A Certain Magical Friendship – ContextSHIFT
by Sora with an S
Summary: For better or worse, characters are defined mostly by context. A horrible monster in one story might be a hero in another. A minor hurdle in one world could be an insurmountable problem in another. So a gap that allows characters between two contexts might be more of a problem then it first appears...
1. A gap is opened up

This story can be found on FimFiction, SpaceBattles, and Archive of Our Own - links are in my profile. Enjoy.

* * *

Academy City was a very strange place.

The most obvious part of its peculiarity was its name. While it was true that more then half of the inhabitants were students, the true nature of the city was actually a giant research facility, with the students simply being one avenue of research. What did they teach at Academy City? Well, they unlocked the secrets of the human mind and granted psychic powers. While that may sound fantastic and impossible to those outside the city-state, to those inside it was a well-understood process with sound grounding in science and mathematics.

It was strange, but in this world psychic powers were a reality.

However, there was one girl in the city who did not belong there.

* * *

Ponyville was a very strange place.

The most obvious part of its peculiarity was its name. In a world where cities of ponies could be found most anywhere, many had questioned why the community was known as "the town of ponies". If somepony cared enough to research it, the name actually had a simple enough origin. When the Apple family originally moved to the fertile ground near the Everfree Forest, "the town of ponies" was actually a useful descriptor given the next nearest pony community was a weeks travel away. Of course, that did not explain why so many had chosen over the years to move next to a monster-filled forest, but life was filled with such mysteries.

It was strange, but ponies were just one of many races in this world.

However, there was one mare in the town who did not belong there.

* * *

Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a short, slender girl of fourteen years of age. Her silver hair tailed down into the hood of her white and gold-trim habit. And despite being in the middle of the City of Science, Index was most definitely a magician, the claimer of a power that would cause even the brightest scientists to scratch their heads in confusion.

Index was not in Academy City because she wanted to be. She was there because, as the bastion of Science, it was the last place that a magician might track her down and attack her for the 103,000 magical grimoires she carried around inside her head. With that wealth of magical knowledge inside her, she was an irresistible target to any magician.

Unfortunately, at least two magicians had tracked her down regardless.

* * *

Zecora was a zebra alchemist. She lived in the Everfree forest to ensure she always had ingredients for her magical potions ready at hoof. Unlike ponies, zebras had no inherent magic but had more-or-less invented potion-making to fill in that gap in ability.

Zecora was not, strictly speaking, in Ponyville because she wanted to be. Living in a forest denied one most of civilisation's comforts, and there was a limit to what Zecora could build of wood. She had come to Ponyville, as she did every month, in the hopes that somepony would actually barter goods with her. For a town jointly founded by farmers and merchants, Zecora was finding it frustratingly hard just to buy food. Raw grass tasted no better to zebras than it did to ponies.

Unfortunately, nopony dared show their muzzle.

* * *

On the other hand, having memorised 103,000 grimoires made Index the undisputed expert on magic worldwide. If anyone could hide from a pair of magicians, it was her. Magic could seem like some unfathomable force to those unfamiliar with it, but the concept itself mostly revolved around symbolism.

For example, there was a certain Celtic myth that if mushrooms were found growing in a circle, it meant that place was an invisible space filled with fae and misfortune; so different that it could be said to be another world. Using that story, along with a handful of store-bought mushrooms, Index could create a circle inside of which counted as 'another world'.

Now, no magic was actually being used. No portals were actually created. But any spell created to 'search the whole world' would be invariably fooled by the circle whose contents were 'in another world'.

Scattering the mushrooms around a park bench, Index wrapped her habit tightly around herself and tried to get some sleep.

* * *

On the other hoof, maybe that was just as well. It meant that nopony was around when Zecora tripped over a tree root on the way out of Ponyville. No one was there as the contents of her saddlebags went everywhere. Magic could seem weird and random, even to a unicorn, but could mostly be understood if you knew what each of the parts of the magic was trying to _do_. Of course, having a half-dozen different intentions in the mix could create some truly bizarre results…

The Poison Joke that Zecora had carefully bottled up wanted to play pranks on people. The Heart's Desire wished only to grant its namesake. Nearly a full dozen different and very potent magical plants were now strewn across the ground, their jars shattered. The cork and glass seals Zecora had locked the magic in with were now broken. The juices from the various cuttings leaked into the soil, forming a circular puddle just outside the border of the Everfree.

Zecora frowned in annoyance and frustration as she saw many hours of collecting spill out onto the ground.

* * *

Index slept fitfully inside her self-made 'faerie world'.

* * *

Zecora got to her hooves as the puddle of magical ingredients soaked into the dirt.

* * *

Index jerked awake as she felt powerful mana collect _right underneath her_. Her 'spell' was powering up?! Where was it getting mana from? Had she tapped into a ley line or the Fung Shei of the area purely on accident?

* * *

Zecora reared back in surprise as the puddle of wasted magic abruptly started glowing bright purple. The ingredients were responding to something? But that was impossible, they shouldn't be reacting to each other like this!

* * *

She leapt clear of her Faerie Circle just in time for the bench she had been sleeping on to fall down, the ground seeming to cave in.

* * *

She leapt clear of the magical ingredients as the puddle began to rapidly eat into the ground, forming a deep hole.

* * *

Heart racing, Index frantically ran. Whatever that had been was undoubtedly a magical phenomenon, and even if it _had_ been an accident, the magicians chasing her were sure to have sensed it too. She needed to run, and run fast.

* * *

Heart racing, Zecora galloped away. Mixing magic willy-nilly was _always_ a bad idea, and Zecora didn't want to be anywhere near her impromptu potion just in case it decided to explode, or worse. "I would warn anypony I could see." She told herself. "But nopony will ever come near me. They will avoid this; they have that sense. I must hurry, this trouble could be immense."

* * *

As it happened, both Index and Zecora were familiar with the idea of two places that occupied the same space, but unable to affect each other. To Zecora, they were simply called worlds. To Index, they were known as phases.

It would be wrong to say that the two incidents formed a hole in-between the two locations. That would imply that the two destinations were relatable enough that each could call the other a 'world'. It would also, incorrectly, hint that small enough things could squeeze from one to the other.

What had formed might perhaps be better described as a crack.

However, this was not a crack in some wall. This was a crack in the fundamental rules that allowed two completely different stories to be told in the same place.

Being forced through a crack in stone might take some skin off. Being forced through this… would have very different effects.

It hadn't even been a day when that was first discovered…

* * *

Saten Ruiko was well known to investigate urban legends to the point of near obsession. To her, the sudden appearance of a deep hole in the park was a mystery that deserved her fullest attention.

She stared down the new hole with wide eyes. Was this a test of some new earth-moving technology? An esper taking out frustrations against the ground? Dropping to her hands and knees to place her head closer to the hole, Saten dropped a rock in and listened carefully.

* * *

Rainbow Dash was well known for being lazy when not on the job, but you would have to be crazy to ignore the glowing circle in the ground that marked a hole. Hovering over it, Rainbow let out a whistle when she realised she couldn't see the bottom.

Recognising the thing as clearly magic, Rainbow was perfectly happy to leave this to some unicorn to deal with. At least, she would have if a rock hadn't been ejected from the hole just fast enough to smash into her muzzle. Rainbow's head was knocked back, and a comical -bonk- noise was made as the rock bounced off Rainbow's lower jaw and back down into the hole.

* * *

Saten blinked as her rock whistled back past her face, catching it on the way down. Was there someone down there, throwing rocks back up to the people who dropped them? Obviously, this hole was shallower than it looked.

And with that foolish and tenuous logic, Saten lowered her body into the hole, arms grasping the sides, then slid down the sides.

* * *

Rainbow rubbed her sore jaw. Nopony clocks Rainbow Dash and gets away with it!

With a flap of her wings, Rainbow dashed down into the hole.

* * *

Saten was a carefree young girl. She was a level 0 esper, attending Sakugawa Middle School. She was friends with Uiharu Kazari, Shirai Kuroko, and Misaka Mikoto.

Rainbow was a self-confident, self-made mare. She ran the Ponyville weather team as its star pegasus. She was good friends with her flying camp buddy Fluttershy.

W-what is this? It feels like pieces of me are being torn away!

_ was a carefree young _. She was a _. She was friends with _ _, _ _, and _ _.

_ was a self-confident, self-made _. She _ weather _ pegasus. She was good friends with her _ buddy _.

Did I just fall past some_…?

Satin was a carefree young mare. She was an earth pony with a Cutie Mark of a magnifying glass. She was friends with Gatekeeper, Stage Hand, and Railgun.

Rainbow was a self-confident, self-made girl. She was a master of weather magic, using the legend of Pegasus. She was good friends with her magician buddy Fluttershy.

 _I can see light!_

* * *

Blinking at the sudden brightness, Rainbow Dash tried to get her bearings, the plastic wings on her back slowly flapping. She ran a hand through her colourfully-dyed hair while she hovered in place. She abruptly dropped to the ground as she realised that she was surrounded by skyscrapers – and that wherever she was, it certainly wasn't Humansville.

* * *

Satin whooshed up the side of the hole, up a good metre in the air, then smashed back down on the ground. Shaking her head to clear her dizzy spell, Satin stood up on all four hooves. Her eyes widened enormously as she took in the rural surroundings.

* * *

Two stories, neither yet truly begun… already, both were irreversibly off track.


	2. Contact made

Satin blinked owlishly as she looked around. Wooden buildings. Cobblestone roads. Thatch roofs.

Basically, she was now somewhere that looked _nothing_ like the Academy.

What had happened? Gatekeeper was sick, so she had looked after her until dark. Realising it was past curfew, she had hurried back to her dorm when she had found a deep hole in the ground. She'd gone _down_ into the hole, but had come _up_ out of it, somewhere she didn't recognise.

There was only one reasonable explanation for this. Satin's shoulders trembled at the mere thought of it.

Then she couldn't hold it in any longer, and let out a huge whoop of excitement.

 _Those stupid ponies back at the Academy said that a hole through the centre of the Earth was impossible! Hah! Just wait until the hear that I actually_ found _one!_

Satin lips stretched up to her ears in a huge smirk. She stood up on her hind legs to get a better look at where she was.

The hole – which, she just noticed, was glowing faintly in the dark – was just off the side of a dirt road leading into an overgrown forest. Going the other way, it led into the town she had noticed upon arrival.

Hold on. It was well and truly night-time here, as it was when she had entered the hole on the other side of the globe. In that case, there was something that really needed investigating. A mystery which meant that she wouldn't be sleeping in the foreseeable future, as she tried to puzzle it out.

Was that a party she could hear in that tree-house in the middle of town?

* * *

Rainbow squinted at the city around her. Concrete buildings. Paved roads. Steel and glass skyscrapers occasionally breaking up the monotony.

Yeah, this was definitely not Humansville. Rainbow would honestly be surprised if someone told her her hometown had a building with _three_ stories in it.

Okay, quick recap. The Princess was throwing a parade or something – Rainbow _may_ have slept through the details – so she was in charge of making sure the weather didn't do something dumb, like rain. The town's resident party girl had set up a pre-celebration celebration, to which she had been heading when she had spotted the obviously magical hole in the ground.

Rainbow blew a tuft of hair out of her face. _I'm pretty sure wonderland is supposed to have more trees than this._

Well, now that that was out of the way, where actually was she?

The hole she had emerged from, Rainbow saw, was right next to a pathway leading through a park. The buildings she saw rose above the trees, letting her see them, and the edge of the park was close enough for her to see the road through the trees. The area was lit up with street-lamps, it being the dead of night here. No obvious clues to her location beyond that could be seen.

Rainbow's plastic wings twitched. _No Dash, bad. Flying where random people can see you gets you a lecture._ Even if it would probably be the fastest way to figure out where she was…

Rainbow was jerked out of her thoughts as an angry shout came from the road.

* * *

There wasn't a sign or anything, and the door was open, so Satin just walked right in. Inside, it appeared to be a library – or rather, it would be normally. Just like Satin had suspected, the ponies inside were partying.

Not the kind of party with a DJ and a boom box. The kind of party were everypony just kinda milled around, talked, and ate party food.

Satin personally preferred some music to go with this kind of activity, but that was being unreasonable of her. Firstly, because this wasn't her party. But more importantly, even if she felt rude enough to complain, nopony here seemed to speak Neighponiese. The casual buzz of conversation might as well have been cricket chirping for all she could make out.

Wait, bad example. Some of the crickets back home could be pretty verbose.

Anyway, she was a stranger who didn't even speak the language. And it's not like she was invited or anything. Satin was an outgoing mare, but even that confidence was starting to fade when faced with the awkwardness of the situation. She was confident in her ability to communicate through gestures, but trying to start a friendship through charades didn't sound like the best of ideas. Satin decided to cut her losses and just gracefully trot out.

Then, to make things even _more_ awkward, an undignified screech told Satin that she'd just stood on somepony's tail.

* * *

The stream of foreign language was coming from a tall, busty woman in a green jersey, her hair tied back in a ponytail. The lady was yelling something at Rainbow, gesturing as though she expected Rainbow to respond.

Rainbow crossed her hands behind her head. "English, lady. Only language I speak."

The woman's annoyed expression gained a tint of confusion. When she spoke next, it was in heavily accented but understandable English. "I say, it past curfew now. What are you doing out so late?"

"There's a curfew…?" Rainbow slowly lowered her arms.

"We are city full of school students. Of course there is curfew." The lady walked from the road into the park proper, raising an eyebrow as she got a good look at Rainbow's ridiculous hair colouration. "You are from District 3, yes?"

What? Why would this lady assume the obvious foreign girl is a local? "No - " Rainbow started to explain.

"Really? You not from city district for visitors?"

Ah. That made more sense. "No, I'm not - "

"Then where you stay the night?"

"I just got here just now, lady!"

The woman frowned. "Who bring you into city? They should have bed for you."

 _I flew in down a hole in the ground._ Rainbow didn't say. "Uh, yeah! They told me to meet them in… um… district…"

"5? 7?"

"…23?" Rainbow tried.

The lady's frown changed from a 'you troublemaker' sort of frown to a 'you idiot' sort of frown. "That is being Airport district."

Oh good, that was a real place. "Yeah, right, the airport district." Rainbow lied.

"Is on other side of Academy City."

"Whoops!" Rainbow pretended that she cared, rubbing the back of her neck. "Better get walking then."

To Rainbow's surprise, the woman actually rolled her eyes. "Not this late of night! Come. I give you lift."

Oops. She'd accidentally gotten some unwanted 'help'. "Uh, that's okay." Rainbow backed away slowly. "I can make it on my own - "

The woman's right hand came down firmly on Rainbow's shoulder. "Is fine. I Anti-Skill officer, is my duty to make sure students safe."

Flustered, Rainbow tried to think of a way out of this mess as the woman marched her to her car.

* * *

There was a white-furred, purple-maned unicorn screeching in Satin's face, and she didn't know what to do about it.

{Sorry! I didn't mean it!} Satin apologised, bowing deep and low in the neighpon style, forehooves tucked back near her back hooves.

The unicorn seemed taken aback by the unknown (to her) language and bowing combo. After a moment, she seemed to murmur an apology of her own, bowing in the western style with her forehooves spread out to the side.

After the sudden noise, however, curious ponies jostled each other to get a look at the strange pony in the slightly crowded room. The murmurs, gone for after the screech, came back; focused on Satin this time.

Satin, not a fan of being the centre of attention for causing a scene, found herself backing up into a wall as ponies crowded around her. {Er, hey everypony, if you could just give me some space…}

Luckily, one of the ponies in the room seemed to realise her problem. The orange mare yelled words that Satin didn't understand, but were probably something like 'give her some space', because the ponies backed off.

{Thanks.} Satin bowed her head in gratitude, even though the pony wouldn't understand her.

{Little pony shouldn't travel without one who is speaking the local talking.}

Satin's head snapped up at the accented and grammatically incorrect but still understandable Neighponiese. The pony that had spoken was her 'rescuer'. She had orange fur, a blond mane, freckles, and a cowgirl hat. {You can speak Neighponiese?}

{Applejack not always want be simple farmpony. Orange-Uncle and Orange-Aunt say pony is no-no cultured unless know two speakings, and Applejack no want learn Fancy…}

The corner of Satin's mouth twitched as the mare ruthlessly butchered her native tongue, but she quashed that annoyance with the gratitude that somepony here spoke her language at all.

{I gobble your gobble-fish!}

Satin turned her head to the side, finding a pink-furred mare smiling _way_ too widely, like she'd just told the funniest joke in the world.

Applejack sighed. {This is being Pie Pinkie.}

{Your flowers smell freshly of cherries!} Pie beamed.

{Can you tell her her Neighponiese makes no sense?} Satin asked Applejack.

{She is not being better in Equish.} Applejack cautioned her.

* * *

At the start of the drive, the lady had introduced herself as 'Yomikawa Aiho'. She'd asked Rainbow for her name, but Rainbow stayed silent, not wanting to dig herself in any further.

Staring out the window, being driven across the inter-city highway, Rainbow was thinking furiously. _Anti-Skill, Anti-Skill… she_ says _that like I should know what that is. More than that, she says it like it makes pulling me into her car okay. I swear, if she's trying to abduct me I_ will _show her how creative I can get with thunderclouds._

"We here."

"Huh?" Rainbow looked up, jolted out of her thoughts.

"District 23. We here." Yomikawa jerked her head. indicating the world outside the car windows. They had emerged from the thicket of skyscrapers into flat, grassy plains. Square-shaped, fenced-off plains sporadically covered in runways and… rocket launch pads? Despite that, it was still the most natural-looking place Rainbow had seen yet.

"So." Yomikawa continued. "Where did friend say meet?"

…

Oh. Yeah. Right. Um.

Rainbow pointed vaguely out the window at a cluster of buildings. "Yeah, it was, like, over there…"

Rainbow facepalmed at how lame she sounded, glad she was in the back where Yomikawa couldn't see her.

Yomikawa said nothing, turning the car towards the buildings in question.

 _Okay Dash._ Rainbow promised herself. _Get out of the car, say your goodbyes, fly the coop. Foolproof plan._

Reaching the buildings (which appeared to be mostly aircraft hangers), Yomikawa stopped the car, and got out. Rainbow, sitting directly behind her, got out as well, immediately turning away from the Anti-Skill officer. "Well, I better get going - "

"I no see anyone near." Yomikawa comments.

Rainbow freezes up. "Uh, yeah! They must be… uh… late! Yeah, late!"

"Rude of them." The Anti-Skill officer folds her hands. "If no person show, will have to take you back to my place for night."

 _All right, forget it. I'm outta here._

Rainbow snapped her plastic wings open, and jumped _up_.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle liked to think of herself as a patient mare. However, she had not been having a good day in the slightest. All the weirdo antics of the townsponies had completely eaten away the time she had planned to spend researching how to, oh, _beat Nightmare Moon._ She had finished off her list of duties like a good student, gotten 'home', and then found out the weirdos had followed her there.

After she had trotted off upstairs, the noise from the party had seemed to go down, and she had actually thought that she could get some rest, but _no!_ Somepony had apparently caused a ruckus downstairs. _Libraries are supposed to be quiet!_ Twilight thought, not for the first time tonight.

Well, as much as she'd had her fill of socialisation for the day, Twilight was _just_ curious enough to go down and see what the fuss was about. Trotting back down the stairs, she found that farmpony (What was her name? Oh right, Applejack.) speaking with a black-furred earth pony that Twilight didn't remember seeing before.

"Why, if it ain't the mare of the hour!" Applejack greeted her. "I was jus' talking with Satin here."

"Hi." Twilight said sourly.

Satin waved her hoof. "Konnichiwa!"

"Don't speak a word of Equish, poor filly." Applejack explained. "If I weren't here, she wouldn't have a soul to talk to."

Twilight's eyebrows rose incredulously. " _You_ are bilingual."

Applejack frowned. "Didn't ya ma and pa teach ya to not judge a pony by her coat?"

"Sorry." Twilight apologised with a huff. "I have _not_ been having a good day… or night, now… what with all this pointless 'friend-making' all day."

"Hey now, making new friends ain't ever pointless." Applejack refuted, surprised at the abrupt outburst. Satin's eyes kept turning from mare to mare as she tried to follow the conversation from the other side of the language barrier.

Twilight frowned in anger for a moment, then she sized Applejack up. Leaning forward and speaking quietly, she spoke. "Not if tomorrow is the start of a reign of everlasting darkness!"

"Say what?" Applejack blinked, leaning in close herself.

"The Mare in the Moon – Nightmare Moon - is prophesized to return _tomorrow!_ " Twilight hissed. Satin's eyes widened a little, and her brow furrowed.

"Really?" Applejack was confused. "That sounds like something ya tell the Princess about, not keep to yourself."

Twilight's face screwed up in frustration. "I did!"

"And?"

"She gave me busywork and told me to 'stop reading those dusty old books'!" Twilight huffed.

"Then there ain't nothing to worry about, I reckon." Applejack nodded.

"Nee-ight mare Moo-na?" Satin butted in. Twilight and Applejack both turned to her, having forgotten she was there. Satin had a big, know-it-all grin on her face.

* * *

Shirai Kuroko liked to think of herself as a patient girl. (She was, after all, still waiting on her Sissy to accept her pure and wholesome affections…) Of course, normally she wasn't staying up into the wee hours of the morning working.

The notorious criminal, the Graviton Bomber, had been caught just that afternoon. As a member of the volunteer peacekeeping organisation, Judgement, Kuroko would normally be thrilled to have a guy like that off the streets. The only trouble was, despite the guy having been caught basically _in the act_ , it was still impossible for him to have committed the crimes. See, the bombs were made using the esper power Synchrotron. With the explosions observed, the culprit would need to be at least a Level 3 esper, most likely Level 4.

The guy they had caught was Level 2. Kuroko had darn near pulled her pigtails out trying to figure out how he'd done it.

Then, of all things, the office phone rang. The middle-school girl grumbled about the hour and answered the phone.

 _{_ _Hello? Is this the 177th Branch?_ _}_ Came the voice from the other end of the phone.

{This is Judgement's 177th Branch, yes. May I ask who is calling?} Kuroko didn't let any of her frustration reach her voice.

 _{This is Yomikawa Aiho of Anti-Skill.}_

Kuroko frowned. Judgement was the peacekeeping organisation comprised of students. Anti-Skill was the 'sister' organisation comprised of adults. Knowing that sometimes made people question the need for Judgement at all, until they were reminded that the students here in Academy City were all learning to become espers. Still, Judgement usually called Anti-Skill for help, not the other way around.

 _{I've just had a… strange… encounter with a young girl – high school age – and she decided to run using some form of esper-based flight.}_

Kuroko's frown deepened. There were surprisingly few esper powers that allowed one to ignore the unimaginable weight of the planet below. {Are you after assistance in tracking her down?}

 _{Ha! No. I was already in District 23, borrowing an ultra-high precision radar was easy. Trouble is, the girl's just hovering a kilometre or so off the ground.}_

{And?}

 _{_ _177_ is _the branch with the Level 4 Teleporter, right?_ _}_

Kuroko resisted the urge to groan.

* * *

"Do you know something about Nightmare Moon?!" Twilight grabbed the sides of Satin's head, pulling her closer so their eyes were nearly touching.

{She ask if know about Moon Nightmare.} Applejack helpfully translated.

{Yeah! Collecting rumours and legends is my favourite activity!} Satin smiled, a little painfully as Twilight was _way_ too close.

"What did she say?!" Twilight demanded of Applejack, not moving her face.

"Nothin' yet, really. Let the poor filly talk."

{According to the legends, Nightmare Moon was one of two sisters, who was corrupted by her jealousy - }

{Applejack think everypony heard this part of story.}

{Okay, fine. The real juicy bits happen after the princess seals her sister away anyway…}

"Wha- the Princess?!" Applejack blurted.

Twilight let go of Satin at the unexpected shout. Deprived of her 'support', Satin fell backwards onto her rump. Several curious ponies looked on, silently hoping for more drama. "What? What about the Princess?"

Applejack turned to Twilight in befuddlement. "She says the Princess is the one who sealed Nightmare Moon away in the firs' place."

"What?" Twilight's face scrunched up in confusion. "No it wasn't, it was some unnamed mare who went on to take responsibility for keeping… night and day… working…" Twilight's speech slowed as what she was saying dawned on her.

"No!" Twilight's voice came back with a shout. In the background, Pinkie Pie was moving throughout the crowd distributing snacks as everypony looked on at the shouting. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"Last ah checked, we only had _one_ mare who handled the whole light/darkness shebang." Applejack pointed out.

Twilight glared at Applejack. "But if Princess Celestia was the one who defeated Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago…" She took a deep breath.

"…then why is the story a _legend_?"

* * *

The thing about clouds, Rainbow reflected, was that they didn't start until you were a _long_ way off the ground. Resting on top of one was a magical experience for several reasons.

First of all, duh, you couldn't do it without magic.

Second, because you could see for _ages_ up this high. The night sky, even obscured from the city's light pollution, was _brilliant_ from this viewpoint.

 _Third,_ Rainbow thought as she leaned back, resting her whole body on the Columbus she had picked, _because nobody bothers you up here._

Then, because God has a sense of humour, Rainbow suddenly had a lap full of middle-school girl. The girl with the multi-coloured hair made an -oof!- sound and the air was pressed out of her lungs.

"What are you doing up here?" The girl asked, her English better than Yomikawa's, but still accented. She had a pair of plaid pigtails, and was wearing a light brown vest over a white collared shirt.

Rainbow sucked in a breath as the girl shifted her weight off her chest. "None of your business."

"I'm Shirai Kuroko, a member of Judgement, so an esper making trouble for others _is_ my business."

Great. Another group Rainbow had never heard of. And what did she mean by esper? …wait. She didn't mean those fake Gemstones they made down in… Academy…

Rainbow suddenly rolled over, causing Kuroko to squawk indignantly as she was flung clear. Now facing down, Rainbow could get a good look at the city below. From her vantage point, she could see the well-illuminated city below. Specifically, she could see how the city had a wall surrounding it, and another much larger city to it's east.

Rainbow swallowed. _If that larger city is Tokyo, then that smaller city would be Academy City. As in, the Bastion of Science. As in, I'm in huge trouble for being here._

* * *

"Ah don't follow." Applejack admitted. Satin nudged her, and the farmpony quietly relayed Twilight's thoughts as best she could.

"If the Princess was _there_ , then what happened would be history, not legends, right?" Twilight's speaking was getting a little fast.

"Maybe she don't like talking 'bout it." Wait. If the Princess _was_ the mare from the legend, wouldn't that make Nightmare Moon her little sister? If she ever had to do something like that to Apple Bloom, why… she didn't know if her heart could take it.

"But if _she_ was the one who sealed away Nightmare Moon, then she would _know_ how dangerous she was! So why the blasé attitude?" Twilight's voice was also getting a little high in the vocal range.

"Um, excuse me?" One of the pegasi in the room took a step forward.

"She wouldn't hold a celebration if she was expecting a fight, that's for sure!"

"If I could just say just a teensy-weensy something, it wouldn't take much time at all, really…"

"The Princess trusts me! She wouldn't just dismiss my warnings if she _knew_ they were true!"

"Um, okay. If you don't want to listen that's fine."

"Twilight?" Applejack nudged Twilight in the shoulder. (That is, just under her neck.) "Mind if Fluttershy there gets a word in edgewise?"

"What?" Twilight was genuinely surprised to see the yellow-and-pink pegasus had stepped forward. "Oh! Um. I guess?" Her rant aborted, the steam she had been building up seemed to fade.

"Um." Fluttershy seemed to recede into herself at suddenly being made the centre of attention. "Well, it's just a thought I had, but maybe the reason the Princess isn't worried is because she doesn't think her sister returning is a problem?"

"Doesn't think..?" Twilight echoed somewhat blankly. "Like I said, for what Satin said to be true the Princess would be the one to seal Nightmare away in the first place!"

"Well, um." Fluttershy's voice had gained enough confidence to be clearly audible. "Why wouldn't she just do that again?"

* * *

Soundlessly, Kuroko reappeared on Rainbow's back, knocking the breath from her once again. "Do you _often_ throw girls to their deaths?"

"You got up here, you can get down." Rainbow retorted, then she stiffened. "Uh, so you'd be an esper then?"

"If you know another way to teleport, please do tell." Kuroko's voice dripped with the emotion of 'duh'.

"Eh heh. Yep. How silly of me to ask." Rainbow mostly succeeded in keeping her voice level.

Kuroko twisted her body around until her legs were hanging off Rainbow's side, treating Rainbow's back like some kind of chair. "I asked you already, but what _are_ you doing up here?"

"A girl can't want some fresh air from time to time?"

"Not right after abandoning a concerned Anti-Skill officer, no."

"I…" Rainbow hesitated, wondering how much she should tell. And how much she _could_ tell. "I'm lost." There. That seemed simple enough.

Rainbow couldn't actually see Kuroko's face as she was lying down, but her voice made Rainbow think she was rolling her eyes. "If you were lost you should have told Miss Yomikawa that."

Dangit. Lying is hard. "I… well, I need to get back to the park she found me in, but I can't recognise it from up here."

"Then why - "

"Look, I didn't want to explain what I was _actually_ doing in the park, okay?!"

Kuroko was silent for a moment, simple swinging her legs back and forth.

…

"What is your name?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm Rainbow Dash."

"I asked for _your_ name, not your Ability's name."

"That _is_ my name!"

Kuroko went silent again.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle galloped through the night.

It had been quite rude of her to suddenly leave Pinkie's party like that, but as she had said many times today: any friendships she would make would be secondary at best to the problem of Nightmare Moon. The last time she'd had Spike send her mentor a letter, she'd been brushed off. The only way she was getting answers out of the ancient alicorn was to ask them in pony.

Twilight had come to Ponyville ahead of the Princess, but there was no way Celestia would arrive in town mere seconds before raising the sun. _Or fighting the Nightmare_ , a doubtful part of Twilight whispered. This close to dawn, she must be here already.

"Min' explaining just where you're goin' in such a huff?"

Twilight stumbled slightly as Applejack galloped up alongside her. As did that fashionista unicorn from earlier today. Fluttershy flew up above, Pinkie Pie bounced along, and Satin struggled to figure out why everypony was going somewhere in such a hurry.

"Why are you all following me?" Twilight counter-asked.

"'cause friends don't let friends panic alone?"

"The smell of adventure is irresistible, darling."

"Well, I'm kind of curious as to how this will all turn out…"

"This seems like fun!"

"I am going to talk to my mentor." Twilight told the ponies. They nodded. (Except Satin, who still didn't know what was going on.) "It will be a very _private_ talk." They nodded again. Twilight sighed.

"Look, there she is!" Pinkie cried, pointing to the town square.

 _Right. Time to get some answers._

* * *

If, yesterday, you had asked Rainbow Dash what instantaneously moving 80 meters via the 11th dimension was like, she wouldn't have been able to answer you. If you asked her _now_ , (and explained that that was what Kuroko was _doing_ ) she would say it didn't feel like anything. It was, after all, instantaneous.

Still, Rainbow's usual method of traversing the skies was to soar like a bird. A very, very _fast_ bird, but a bird nonetheless. Feel the wind in her hair, see the landmarks move around, beautiful stuff.

How Kuroko traversed the skies was to jump from point to point with rapid teleporting. About once a second, the world around the two girls would suddenly jump forwards, and any downward momentum would disappear, ready to be gained again in the second before the next jump. It was a little like the first second of bungee jumping on loop.

It should be noted that due to the second delay and range limit, it was actually faster for Rainbow to fly than for Kuroko to teleport the two of them. Of course, only the Judgement girl knew where they were going, and it wasn't _that_ long before the two were back in the park that Rainbow had entered the city through.

As Rainbow stopped her legs from shaking (she flew under her own power, she was _not_ used to that amount of falling), she looked around. "Huh. Got the right park on the first try."

"Despite all the work done to make the city environmentally friendly, there are only a small number of parks in the city." Kuroko explained, looking around and holding in a yawn. "Please, in future do remember not to make such a huge fuss this late at night."

"You're right, I won't. Sorry." Rainbow scratched the back of her neck. "Thanks for getting me home."

"…you live in a park?"

Rainbow's frantic denials were interrupted by a middle-school girl flying out of a hole in the ground, and landing undignified on the pavement with a -smack-. "Owwww…"

Kuroko, who had been looking sleepy, was suddenly wide awake. "Saten-san?!"

The black-haired girl looked up, alarm on her face. "Shirai-san!"

That exchange was also brought short by more girls being ejected out the hole, each with brightly coloured dye-jobs. "Fluttershy?!" Rainbow exclaimed at a familiar face.

"Rainbow Dash?! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing!"

One of the other girls, one with bright purple hair with a pink stripe, picked herself off the ground. "That's not important. We need to get out of here, right now!"

"Why?" Kuroko asked suspiciously.

* * *

Across Academy City, the few magicians that had managed to enter felt the hairs on their backs rise at the feeling of powerful magic nearby.

* * *

A man (woman?) floating upside-down in a tank of liquid frowned at what one of his (her?) screens was showing.

* * *

Sound asleep, a high-school boy with spiky black hair rolled over in his bed.

* * *

And out of a certain trouble-making 'hole', purple mist rose up.

Twilight Sparkle tried in vain to swallow, all moisture and confidence gone from her mouth. "Because Nightmare Moon is right on our tails…"


	3. The cover of darkness

A few minutes ago…

 _Time to get some answers._

The royal sky-chariot had been landed in the small field behind the town hall. Twilight couldn't see the two guardsponies who were supposed to be pulling the chariot, so Celestia must have sent them away already. The royal mare herself, however, was standing next to her chariot, eyes on the moon.

"Princess!"

"Twilight?!" The white furred alicorn with a mane like an aurora jerked backward, obviously startled. Twilight did not consider this a good start. "Twilight, what are you doing here?"

"Princess, I need to talk to you about Nightmare Moon." Twilight said, dead serious.

Celestia blinked as the other mares followed Twilight into the clearing, standing respectfully off to one side. "And who are these ponies, Twilight?" Surprise wearing off, the princess gave a knowing smile. "Did you make some friends after all?"

Twilight stomped her hoof. "Princess!"

Celestia's smile waned, and she sighed. "Twilight, you shouldn't worry about Nightmare Moon."

"Indeed. After all, I'm already here."

In the shadow of Town Hall, two slitted pupils glowed in the dark.

Twilight whinnied in surprise. Celestia's eyes grew wide. The other ponies in the clearing took a fearful step back.

Smoothly trotting out of the shadows, the pitch-black alicorn emerged into the moonlight, her translucent mane shimmering like a field of stars, sharp teeth visible in her arrogant smile. "Hello, _dear_ sister…"

Six pony heads swung over to stare at Celestia, who swallowed. "Luna…"

The other alicorn's eyes narrowed.

Faster than anypony could react, Nightmare Moon's body was enveloped in a bright flash, and the pony was gone, reappearing with an identical flash behind and to the right of her sister. Celestia froze as she felt the point of a horn jab into her neck, her own horn pointed the wrong way.

"There is no Luna." Nightmare Moon whispered softly. "I am…" The black alicorn's horn glowed bright with magic. "…NIGHTMARE MOON!"

The other ponies all shielded their eyes as the magic grew in brightness to the point of being blinding. Then, with a -boom- noise, the light was gone. The six looked afresh at the scene to find Celestia missing, and Nightmare Moon looking smugly up at the moon. Had they looked themselves, they would have found that once more the moon bore a symbolised mare's face upon it's surface. They didn't, because their eyes were locked on the mare who had, in one attack, just defeated the greatest pony they knew.

"You should have kept your eyes on the moon, Cele." Nightmare Moon spoke softly.

She didn't even twitch as a beam of purple magic crashed into the mist-cloud that had moved to intercept it. She turned, smirking, to see Twilight huffing in exhaustion, her horn still smoking with power.

Her attempt would have appeared more heroic had the unicorn's knees not been shaking.

"I wonder if you realise that you have just attacked your new queen…" Nightmare Moon mused out loud.

"Bring her back." Twilight's voice shook. "Bring her back, or –!"

"I don't think you heard me."

The black figure of Nightmare Moon was dissolving, breaking apart into purple mist. It began to fill the clearing, lights shining inside it that made it look like a field of stars.

"I am your queen, now. You will bow to me, or you will _pay_."

A ripple seemed to pass through the mist, then all at once it rushed toward Twilight like a wave on the ocean.

Twilight's eyes widened, her throat going completely dry. For all her talent and memorised knowledge, only one thought was going through her head: _The monster that casually defeated the Princess is now coming for_ me. All of the spells that might save her seemed to be floating just out of reach. Twilight couldn't blink, couldn't _breathe_ , through the stifling certainty that _she was going to die._

And as the magical mist rushed towards her from the front, a well-worn, coarse hemp rope flew through the air from the side. The breath in Twilight's chest was jerked out of her as that rope wrapped itself around the thick muscles at the base of her neck and dragged her off stage right. The mist barely hit her left hind-hoof, knocking Twilight into a spin just before she slammed into her farmpony rescuer.

Instead of a pony, the wave of Nightmare Mist encountered the back wall of the Town Hall, seeping into it rapidly.

Dizzily getting to her hooves, Twilight became vaguely aware that Satin was yelling something.

With a deft movement, Applejack removed the lasso from around Twilight's barrel. "She's sayin' she knows where we can get help!"

The wooden panels of the hall cracked, then shattered. As the wooden debris fell to the ground, the Nightmare Mist emerged from the breaks in the material.

A blue magic aura appeared around Twilight, lifting her in the air like a sack of potatoes. "I'm agreeing to this plan on Twilight's behalf! _Run_!" Cried the other unicorn in the clearing.

And so, the four-legged friends galloped away, the mist sweeping after them.

* * *

There was a walled-off section of Academy City known as the School Garden. It consisted of five elite girls' schools with tuition fees so high that the whole area had acquired a kind of mystique about it. When you added in that the schools only taught mid-to-high level espers, any girl attending a School Garden school was thought of as almost nobility to the rest of the city.

One such school was Tokiwadai Middle School.

Tokiwadai had two dormitories: one near the school, and the other outside School Garden altogether. (According to rumour, this was so they could house two Level 5's without losing a dorm building in the inevitable catfight.)

In this second dorm, nobody was up and about. As it was the dead of night, everyone was, quite naturally, asleep. Well, one of the girls was out working late at night, but all those remaining were deep in dreamland.

It was that girl's roommate, in fact, who was then woken by her phone ringing.

With a sleepy murmur, the young girl stuck an arm out from under the covers to answer the ringing of the mobile. {Hello…?}

 _{Misaka! HELP!}_

With a jolt of adrenalin, the brown-haired girl was suddenly wide awake. {Saten?! What's going on!?}

 _{We're at the park at the top of District 7! Hel–}_

With a click, the call suddenly ended.

The middle school girl took the phone away from her ears and stared at it. {Saten…?}

* * *

On the other end of the line, Saten also stared down at her phone.

Or, rather, at the remains of her phone. An unnatural mist that had swelled up out of the same hole she had just emerged from. It surrounded both her fingers and the shattered pieces of electronics. Just now, that mist had seeped into her phone and it had broken apart like a jigsaw puzzle.

"My, things really have changed while I was away, haven't they? What is that, some manner of communication talisman?"

A woman strode out of the mist – or did she form out of it? The woman was tall, even for a foreigner. She wore incomplete, dark purple plate armour over a long black dress. She had pale blue eyes filled with dark amusement. Most distinguishably of all, however, was her hair: it was pitch black, and full of small points of light that made it look like the night sky. It waved impossibly in an unfelt wind.

At the sight of her, the five girls who had emerged with Saten all took a step back. The one with blond hair seemed to be fidgeting with her overalls; the girl with purple curls was shaking uncontrollably; her companion with the pink stripe in her hair had her eyes darting all over the place, trying to take everything in; while the two with plain pink hair simply clinged to each other.

Kuroko was thoroughly confused by now. She'd returned Rainbow to where she wanted to go, but instead of one less weirdo, she'd gotten six more. And, of course, there was the mystery of why Saten was with them. On the other hand, what seemed to be an esper with Hydrokinesis was clearly making these girls feel threatened, and had already destroyed Saten's phone. She moved to stand in front of the other Academy City resident.

"I am Shirai Kuroko, a member of Judgement. You are under arrest for destruction of property. Please, do not resist or I will be unable to guarantee your safety." Kuroko made sure to speak in English, like the woman had. _Why_ an esper would be speaking English, she didn't know, but tonight had just been _weird_. She pulled down her Judgement armband so the Hydrokinetic could see it.

The woman stopped, several meters from any of the girls. An almost kind smile played on her lips.

"Shut up."

Kuroko let her hand drop, her eyes narrowing at the hostile response.

"Girl, do you not know who I am? I am Nightmare Moon, ruler over Eternal Night; not some _cretin_ to be ordered around by _schoolchildren_!"

One hand was thrust out toward the Judgement member; following it, the mist that surrounded her rushed forwards. Saten remembered how that mist had broken a wall to splinters, and her eyes grew wide at the approaching attack. One of the other girls coved her eyes with a frightened squeal.

…

…

"-Herk- Fluttershy, who is this looser?"

The pink-haired girl in question lifted her hands from her eyes.

The deadly mist had been halted before it could reach Saten and Kuroko by none other than Rainbow Dash, her arms spread out wide as though she was halting a giant pillow rather than a collection of water vapour. That said, her arms were shaking with the strain.

"What." Nightmare Moon spat flatly, head tilted upwards.

"Heh. Lady, this is -grunt- mist. You know, the hard-to-see, low-lying kind of cloud? I work with this kinda stuff every -gasp- day." A bead of sweat rolled down from Rainbow's trademark hair, her exertions clear in her speech. Every muscle she had was visibly straining. Even the plastic wings on her back were fully extended, and seemed to be shaking slightly.

Nightmare Moon tilted her head up slightly, appraising the girl holding back her attack. She clenched the fist on her extended arm.

Then, several things happened very quickly, one after the other.

First, pink hair mixed with pink hair as one of the Americans tackled the other, shouting "Twitchy-twitch!"

Second, Nightmare Moon abruptly swung her fist out to the side, and her mist followed her gesture, spearing through where the two girls had been a mere split-second before. Rainbow suddenly tumbled forward as the face of the mist she was holding onto lost all force behind it, the water vapour now heading sideways instead of forwards.

Third, Kuroko silently teleported into Nightmare Moon's blind spot, directly behind her. With well-practiced movement, Kuroko extended her arm out to palm strike her target in the small of her back. Caught off guard, the woman stumbled, allowing Kuroko to reach out and touch her once more, this time applying her Ability as she did so. Nightmare Moon was instantaneously flipped around so that her body was upside-down, facing the Judgement member who had attacked her.

Kuroko's hands dropped down to the belts of metal spikes hidden on her upper thighs. This was more familiar to her – find a troublemaker, drop them and use teleportation to 'nail' them to the ground. She'd have the whole thing wrapped up…

…

Why wasn't this woman falling?

Rather than succumb to gravitational attraction, Nightmare Moon's body was quickly breaking apart into the very mist she commanded, her cold eyes being the only feature not blurred into particulate. The length of mist that was her arm swung forwards again, and Kuroko teleported out in a panic.

Fluttershy, having picked herself up off the ground, saw where the mist was headed now that Kuroko was out of the way. "Twilight!"

The girl in question had seen it as well. She adjusted her stance, extended her arms, and conjured a purple energy field that the Nightmare Mist splashed out against. Kuroko reappeared behind Fluttershy, sparing only a quick glance at the forcefield as she grabbed Fluttershy and Pinkie. Silently, she teleported the three of them away.

Twilight grunted in exertion, her shield already forming cracks. Rainbow wasn't slacking off either, grabbing the mist from behind and pulling. At some point, both realised distractingly, the number of people in the park had dropped to four – the two of them, Nightmare Moon, and Rarity.

Even that small distraction meant that Rainbow was caught doubly off guard when Nightmare Moon decided to demonstrate that she was perfectly capable of sending her mist in two directions at once; the weather-mage was slammed into a tree as the mist she was pulling on abruptly starting pushing back. An alarming cracking noise came from the tree and magician both, and Rainbow's mouth was knocked open, spattering the grass in front of her with blood.

Kuroko reappeared briefly, grabbed the fashionably-dressed bystander, grimaced at the situation, but teleported out again.

Twilight's mouth also twisted into a distressed frown. Rainbow's magic was preventing the mist from entering her body, but it did nothing to stop the mist from crushing her. At this rate, Rainbow would end up looking like brightly coloured tomato paste.

She literally had a split-second to think of something, _anything_ , to make Nightmare Moon let go. "Luna!" Twilight yelled the first thing that came to mind, remembering what the Princess had called Nightmare Moon. "Your sister hates your guts!"

To Twilight's actual surprise, the Nightmare Mist halted completely, a ripple seeming to pass through it. In the centre of the mist, Nightmare Moon reformed, quivering with rage.

Twilight swallowed dryly at the death promised in her eyes.

Rainbow fell to the ground as the Nightmare Mist gathered around its owner.

" _Why –_ _"_ Nightmare Moon spat. " _–_ would I _care_ about what _she_ thought of me?"

As she watched Nightmare Mist gather for her doom, Twilight wondered that exact thing.

Then, Kuroko was there.

Then, the two of them were watching Nightmare Moon from behind as she blasted an innocent tree to splinters, Rainbow heaving beside them.

Then, Nightmare Moon was alone in the park.

* * *

In a dimly lit tunnel, a splashing noise attracted the attention of the girls huddled on the concrete shore.

"Ack!" Twilight shouted in surprise, Rainbow making a similar noise. "Where are we?!"

"Sewer system." Kuroko informed them matter-of-factly as she reached for her phone.

"We're WHERE?! Ew-ew-ew!" Rainbow yelled, splashing around frantically in the knee-deep liquid. Saten and the other girls reached down to pull them out of the water.

Twilight frowned. "Aren't you injured?"

Rainbow seemed to remember this shortly after as well, if the pained noises she made while being manhandled were any indication.

Kuroko made a face at her phone, rolling out it's flexible touch-screen. "This is Academy City, the sewer treatment is decentralised. There are filters and UV lights everywhere, and the water is full of engineered bacteria. You could probably drink from this stream should you so choose." She said, nose ever so slightly in the air.

Rainbow gave Kuroko a filthy look. Ironic, given how she had managed to soak her skirt in sewer water.

"Now then," the Judgement officer began, thumbs typing on the small touchscreen. "who was that woman attacking you?"

"That was Nightmare Moon." Twilight explained, putting on her serious face. "She's a sorceress from a thousand years ago who was sealed away due to her great evil. If she is not stopped soon, then everywhere will feel the wrath of her Eternal Night!"

Kuroko looked up from her phone to stare blankly at Twilight for several moments. Then, she turned to Saten. {So, who was that woman attacking you?}

While Twilight switched modes to 'offended', Saten responded, sounding uncertain. {Well, she did _say_ her name was Nightmare Moon… but I don't know much more then that…}

{Little girl say what?} The farmgirl's broken Japanese broke into the conversation, slightly startling Kuroko. She continued on, ignoring that Saten wasn't much shorter then she was. {Saten knew more about Moon than us did!}

{Huh? No, that's not right! You guys were the one who told me about her!}

Kuroko pinched her nose. "Fine." Saten looked over, slightly surprised to hear the esper leaving her on the other side of the language barrier. "Forget who she is – who are you?"

Twilight hesitated for a split-second. She could feel what could only be Nightmare Moon's magic flaring brightly overhead. "My name's Twilight Sparkle." She climbed up onto the artificial bank and started wringing her skirt out.

Kuroko gave her a look that said 'I'm not American and even _I_ know that's not a real name', in a rather snobbish tone of voice for a facial expression.

"I'm Fluttershy." One of the pink-haired girls squeaked, the one with the yellow sweater.

"You already met me." Rainbow pointed out, offended someone could possibly have forgotten her.

"Pinkie Pie!" The other pink-haired girl bounced.

"I'm Rarity, and may I say it is a pleasure to meet you… although the circumstances could be less… trying…" The second-last foreigner introduced herself, smiling at Kuroko and then cringing at the dampness on her dress.

"And ah'm - "

"Applejack!" Pinkie Pie interrupted the last of the Americans.

"Applejack?" 'Applejack' blinked at the other girl. "Ah'm named after ah brandy?"

"Yeperuni!"

The farmgirl turned back to the esper. "Apparently ah'm Applejack." She shrugged.

Kuroko pinched the bridge of her nose. She'd bet her pigtails those were pseudonyms, which would make the inevitable stack of paperwork even _larger_. "And you are from…?"

"Humansville." The six Americans echoed together.

Kuroko sighed deeply. "Look, if you didn't want to tell me where you are from, you could have just said so."

"Humansville is a real place." Rarity said with exasperation born of endless repetitions. "It's in Missouri."

"Don't expect a Japanese girl like me to know what is or isn't a real place in the land of the free." Kuroko replied. There was something _very_ odd about what had just been said, but Kuroko was too busy with her typing to properly notice it. She moved her phone's screen closer to her face, frowning at what she read there. "Drat."

{Something the matter?} Saten asked, hoping not to be left out again.

Kuroko tapped her phone with the back of one hand. {Uiharu isn't waking up, so I've been trying to get Anti-Skill's support against miss morning dew up there. But I'm being ignored as lower priority.}

{Eh? Lower priority to what?} Saten asked, slightly concerned. Applejack once again found herself in the role as translator, quietly convening what was being said as best she could.

Kuroko squinted at the small screen. {Apparently there's some high-level esper trashing buildings with…} Her voice trailed off as she fully read the report summery. Ah, right. She was running into a known problem with the system. Sometimes, two different reports about the same incident, both written as though they were the 'first' report, and submitted at the same time wouldn't be recognised as redundant.

There was a loud, deep noise from above, the kind of sound that came from huge amounts of earth being moved apart. If you listened carefully, you could also hear the sharper sound of concrete cracking.

Kuroko folded up her phone and put it away. {…with Hydrokinesis.} She finished.

The grinding sound of soil and earth greatly intensified in volume, and cracks visibly began to form in the concrete ceiling. A mist with points of light within seeped through the cracks. Small flecks rained down from the ceiling, and the water below began to ripple. The eight girls backed away from the cracking roof as the dim maintenance lighting failed.

With one final burst of noise, a great chunk of the roof was ripped off, revealing Nightmare Moon floating in the air above.

" _Found you._ " She grinned, revealing teeth far sharper than was normal for a human being.

Kuroko vanished, reappearing above and behind Nightmare Moon.

The woman in question simply grinned wider. She turned her head just enough to see her Nightmare Mist swat the teleporter out of the air and into the sewer water below. "FOOL!" She bellowed.

Twilight didn't wait for her next move. Of the other girls down here, only Rainbow had a chance of avoiding Nightmare's attacks. She extended her hands again, producing the same purple field of force as before.

Nightmare Moon looked simultaneously offended and disappointed. She gestured her mist down into Twilight's shield spell, and the vapour cloud formed into a wedge. Twilight's face grew panicked and, with one blow, Nightmare Mist shattered her defence.

Having just painfully re-emerged from underwater, Kuroko tried to analyse Nightmare Moon's power. _I still think she's a hydrokinetic, which would mean that that attack of hers is leveraging the same principles as a high-pressure water cutter. But is it possible to break apart like she did and retain your intelligence? …no. Our real attacker must be hidden nearby, and we're facing some kind of water-puppet._

The shattered remains of her shield spell fading, Twilight tried desperately to think of what spells Nightmare Moon could be using. _That attack spell of hers is probably based on the symbolism of water wearing away the mountains. But she turned into her own mist… is she drawing on the power of Dracula? No, that book was written eight centuries after she was sealed away…_

Nightmare Moon clenched her fist, recalling her mist to her. Twilight did not have the time or the concentration to put another shield up, so Rainbow snapped her wings open wide. However, her attempt at take-off was thwarted when Pinkie Pie tackled her from behind. Rainbow turned, her face demanding an explanation, but she just stared in shock at Pinkie's face. The perpetually cheerful face had fear-filled tears leaking out, and it jerked back and forth unnaturally as if to shout 'NO'.

The Nightmare Mist collected together, forming a small sphere of dense cloud. Nightmare Moon's lips twisted into an arrogant smirk once again, and she moved the sphere behind her as if to throw it.

It promptly disappeared with a loud hissing noise.

…

…

The girls huddled on the concrete stared in confusion. Nightmare Moon moved to examine her now empty hand, her face expressionless. Kuroko stood up fully out of the sewer water, shivering slightly in the cool night air.

{Hey, old lady. Just who's friends do you think you're attacking there?}

Saten and Kuroko's faces brightened immensely. {Misaka!} {Sissy!}

A blob of brown hair leaned over the ledge to look down. {Kuroko? I know your mind is filthy, but taking a bath in the sewer isn't going to make it any cleaner.}

As Kuroko turned crimson and began to stammer out rushed denials, Nightmare Moon turned to glare daggers at the new arrival, crossing her arms. "I grow weary of these _constant_ interruptions."

Misaka blinked at the unexpected language, then she cocked her head to the side, an arrogant smile of her own appearing. "Well, just crawl back under the rock you emerged from. I guarantee, no one's going to bother you there."

Nightmare Moon pulled her fist in towards herself, and the top of the sewer water turned to vapour. It floated up towards her, turning from normal mist to the star-filled blackness that was Nightmare Mist. "Do you not know to whom you speak?"

A spark jumped between Misaka's bangs. "Do you?"

"I am _slightly_ curious." Nightmare Moon admitted. "That was you who destroyed my Nightmare Mist, was it not?"

" _That's_ what you call it? What are you, some low-budget anime villain? If you expect me to put on pink spandex and fight you, you'll be going to the hospital disappointed."

" _Answer me._ "

"Whatever." Misaka brushed one of her bangs out of her face. "I'm guessing the only form you can control that water in is mist, right? So all I need to do is change it into another form… say, turning it to steam by bombarding it with microwaves."

Most people would not think of such a technique as being possible for an Electromaster. Misaka was slightly miffed that people thought her power was limited to just lightning and railguns. Light and radio waves were _electro-magnetic_ waves, after all.

It was somewhat surreal for the girls down in the sewer. Whenever Nightmare Moon had been before them, there had been this sense of imminent peril that seemed to had drained away now: her focus was entirely on the new arrival.

"Was this the help Saten knew how to get?" Twilight muttered to herself. Not particularly quietly, though – Kuroko heard her.

{Saten!} She growled at her friend's friend. {Did you bring Sissy to this fight on _purpose_?!}

Saten flinched under Kuroko's glare. {What? I was scared!}

{Sissy isn't some knight who'll make the monsters go away! That's Judgement's job!}

"Not to interrupt you dears, but could we _please_ talk about this after we exit this sewer?" Rarity interrupted.

Twilight looked around – they made a fine sight; eight girls in damp clothing at the floor of a tunnel exposed to the sky. And that wasn't even considering the face that they were down here and the danger was up there – yes it was _Nightmare Moon_ , but at the moment everybody seemed to be hoping this other girl (who didn't look any older than middle school age) could take her on her own. Twilight felt that was being _really_ lazy. Not only that, it was also risky, and unfair to the other girl. Well, Twilight wasn't going to just stand there and look on, that's for sure.

…although, she would have to get out of the sewer first.

Kuroko sighed and resigned herself to taxi service for the night. Rainbow rolled her joints, wincing as the pain she received for her trouble. She didn't think she'd broken anything in her collision with the tree earlier, but she was definitely hurt _somehow_ going by the pain. She moved closer to Twilight to see if the new girl knew any healing spells.

Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon was doing something new – she raised up her cupped hands as though she was scooping something out of the air. More dark clouds pulled themselves out of the ground and formed themselves into the outlines of horses, the spots where their eyes would be a faint light, just like the 'stars' on her normal attack mist.

Misaka rolled her eyes. "I already told you, I just - " She pointed her palm at the horse-shaped clouds, sparks jumping between her fingers as she filled the air with invisible microwaves. He eyes widened as, unexpectedly, nothing happened. "It didn't work?! …wait; that's not mist, it's smoke!"

"Shadowbolts!" Nightmare Moon crowed. "Your queen commands you – destroy that girl!"

The clouds of black ash that were apparently called Shadowbolts condensed, the black material compressing to form a solid-looking surface. After a few seconds of this the Shadowbolts could hardly be distinguished from real horses, but that they retained the colour of ash. The Shadowbolts put real-looking hooves to the ground, charging Misaka.

Incidentally, Kuroko had finished teleporting Saten and Rarity up to the surface just in time to hear Nightmare Moon's attack cry. She looked up, startled, as the smoke-horses charged her roommate. She had deliberately teleported her passengers to the other side of the exposed crevice that was the sewer, but she could still see her Sissy's eyes narrow again from here.

Misaka lifted her own arm out, palm down, forming arcs of lightning as she drew her own dark cloud from the ground – a mass of magnetically-controlled Iron Sand particles. As the Shadowbolts drew near, she gestured out harshly, and the storm of tiny metal pieces ripped through the phantoms, reducing them to smoke once again. Nightmare Moon shifted her arms as though pulling the strings of puppets, and the smoke began to re-form into equine form even as the Iron Sand storm tore them apart again.

Applejack, having gotten a lift from a pained-looking Rainbow, stared, slightly faintly, as the Electric Shock Princess went hammer and tongs with the Queen of Eternal Night. "So, ah… jus' for the record, who is tha' gal again?"

Kuroko reappeared in the sewer, taking a moment to blink at Twilight, who had chosen to climb out of the hole in the ground by hand. "That 'gal' is Misaka Mikoto, the third-ranked esper in Academy City, the strongest Electromaster in the whole world!"

Thunder boomed as lightning flashed between the two combatants. "Where in the physics textbook does it say you can block _lightning_ with _water vapour_?!" Yelled Misaka.

"Have you never seen a thundercloud, girl?!" Nightmare Moon taunted back.

Kuroko teleported Pinkie and Fluttershy up to the surface, looking with slight worry as both fighters tried to counter all of the other's attacks at once. … _and she really_ shouldn't _be having this much trouble in a fight._

"Shouldn't you be helping her?" Twilight grunted as she heaved herself onto the flat ground. Getting a good look at the surface again, she blinked. While everyone else's attention was locked on the fight, she saw the devastated state the park was in. When they had all disappeared underground Nightmare Moon seemed to have torn everything up looking for them – there were barely any trees in the park left standing, and even the nearby buildings had had their facing walls ripped to pieces. _That'll be the cause of those reports Kuroko was reading…_

And… hang on. Was the horizon getting lighter?

"Sissy? No." Kuroko sighed, clearly unhappy about the situation. "With the way the battle is now, going near them will just get you blasted. Probably by accident."

"Heh. You're not bad, old hag." Misaka said with a fierce smile. The air all around her was full of Iron Sand, sparking furiously whenever it crossed paths with the microwaves Misaka was using to keep the Nightmare Mist off her.

"And you are an insolent brat." Nightmare Moon muttered, almost absently. Reforming her Shadowbolts for attack and her Nightmare Mist for defence was occupying her mind right now.

"I'm taking everything you've got!"

"Indeed, you are." For once, Nightmare Moon did not sound arrogant or condescending. "Though, I wonder, how you will deal with my Tantabus?"

"Huh?" The #3 made a confused noise at the strange question. "First of all, it's pronounced 'Tant _i_ bus'," Misaka said, recalling her Latin lessons. "and I don't see anything here that could be called a 'nightmare'."

"Don't you?" Nightmare Moon's arrogance had returned in full force.

Misaka blinked, eyes darting furiously as she tried to see what her opponent had up her sleeve. Her eyes suddenly focused at a point of the edge of the park. "Kuroko! Don't!"

Kuroko, who was on the other side of the park from where Misaka was looking, had an intense sinking feeling.

"Kuroko!" Misaka cried. Lightning arcs from her hands, blasting one of the few remaining trees to splinters. "You leave her alone!"

The reprieve of Misaka's arrival had changed into a lead weight in the guts of those watching. The #3's eyes were clearly tracking movement that didn't exist, her body jerking around dodging the attacks of shadows. There was no doubt - the Ace of Tokiwadai's senses had become disconnected from reality.

Normally Kuroko would be delighted to hear the object of her affections worried about her, but right now _she_ was too worried about Misaka. _Sissy's electro-barrier isn't activating, so it isn't her brain being affected… is Nightmare Moon using the water droplets as prisms to alter the light entering her eyes?_ This was bad. This was really bad. Theoretically, a skilled enough Hydrokinetic could use water to dampen outside noise and create new sounds, so shouting at Misaka was probably a waste of time.

Twilight, on the other hand, had noticed another problem. _While she's busy fighting phantoms, her defence is slacking against Nightmare Moon!_

But…

Nightmare Moon wasn't pressing the attack. Indeed, she even seemed to have called off her Shadowbolts; the ash-horses merely floating in the air. Tilting her head back, the armour-clad woman let out a deep, booming peal of laughter. For several seconds, she was content to watch the Electromaster unload attacks into imaginary opponents.

It was when Misaka reached into her pocket, pulling out a small coin, that Kuroko took action. Teleporting to her Sissy's side (close enough to avoid the dangerous Iron Sand storm), Kuroko extend out her palm with considerably more care than she had against Nightmare Moon. Instead of teleporting her so that she fell on her head, Kuroko simply teleported her roommate so that she was facing the other way. _Assuming this is an optical illusion, all I need to do is change Sissy's viewpoint in a way the illusionist can't predict!_

And yet…

"What do you think that will accomplish, you fool?!" Nightmare Moon cried.

Electrical sparks gathered into Misaka's hand, and she swiped the dangerous appendage through the air.

Putting her practice at dodging her roommate's electrocution to practical use for the first time, Kuroko teleported back to the rest of the girls, face twisted in frustration. _That didn't work! Have I made a wrong assumption somewhere?_ She thought, immediately followed by: _What is_ taking _Anti-Skill so long?!_

Twilight quickly glanced at the others, thinking about what she knew they could do. Pinkie no, Rainbow no, Saten no (unless she was rather stupidly hiding some powerful ability), Fluttershy no, Applejack heck no, Rarity no. With Kuroko having just failed, that left her as the only one who might be able to turn the situation around. Twilight took a deep breath, converting as much of her Life Force into Mana as she dared.

Nightmare Moon glanced over at the beginnings of a spell, her cruel smile once again on display. With her right index finger she drew a tiny circle in the air. The illusions Misaka was currently fighting seemed to follow that gesture, because Misaka began to turn in order to continue 'fighting' them.

Twilight's eyes widened, and with new urgency she focused her magic into her hands.

Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie's whole body was wracked with an enormous spasm, which ended up shoving Rainbow Dash forward. Her arms spinning like a pinwheel, trying not to fall over, the weather-mage stumbled forward in front of Twilight. By amazing coincidence, this meant that when Misaka threw a bolt of lightning their way, Rainbow caught it as though it was a stick and not ionised air just by flailing her arms around. Hand full of electricity, Rainbow lost the fight to stay upright and toppled over.

 _One shot._ Twilight told herself, trying not to think about how Pinkie's random and Rainbow's weather magic was the only reason she wasn't charcoal right now. _I have to do this in one shot._

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow, as though daring Twilight to try something. Twilight remembered all too well about the Nightmare Mist that would spring up to protect her in an instant.

So, as she thrust her arm out, projecting a beam of purple energy, she aimed for Misaka instead.

Saten gasped out loud, and Nightmare Moon actually looked surprised. The Electromaster, unable to see the attack coming, was hit full-on and blown clear off her feet. With a loud -thump-, Misaka fell to the ground and did not get back up.

Dead silence rang out in the devastated park.

Nightmare Moon broke it by laughing, louder and filled with more cruel delight then before. "I see, I see! So that's your answer, is it?"

" _Why_ would you _do_ that?!" Kuroko hissed furiously. She twitched, thick metallic nails appearing in her hands, but she stayed put with a glance at Nightmare Moon, who was still radiating amusement.

"She's better off unconscious then attacking us!" Twilight hissed back, keeping her eyes on Nightmare Moon. Unlike Misaka, she didn't have a way to easily bypass the Nightmare Mist, and it's wielder was still standing…

"She was an interesting foe." Nightmare Moon said. "But no match for the Queen of Eternal Night."

"I don't know." Twilight replied, struggling to keep her voice even. "I'm not sure that amounts to much."

The Shadowbolts, content to simply hang in the air, suddenly turned to face the group of young girls. Large amounts of Nightmare Mist gathered behind it's wielder, who's smirk gained a dangerous tint. "Do you want those to be your last words?"

"Well, it's just that…" Twilight couldn't believe she hadn't already noticed. "How can you be the queen of Eternal Night if the sun is rising?"

She couldn't have timed it any better.

Bright yellow shafts of sunlight peaked over the Academy City skyline. One fell near Misaka, causing the nearby Shadowbolts to flinch away.

And Nightmare Moon…

She looked as though she had gone outside to find the sky bubblegum pink. She blinked stupidly as the sun continued its way over the horizon.

Gaining courage from the surprise of her enemy, Twilight stepped forward. "That's right. Night doesn't last forever. And neither will you!"

Nightmare Moon completely ignored Twilight in favour of watching the sky. "But I already… didn't I?" She looked down at her hands as though inspecting them for defects. "Well, it doesn't matter."

With those words, Nightmare Moon snapped her fingers.

And the Sun disappeared.


	4. Assault on the City of Science

Once upon a time, a cheerful race of fuzzy critters had lived on the moon. They were called the Nyx.

"Don't lose sight of her!"

Though none lived up there but themselves, they were content.

"What are you idiots doing?! Surround her!"

For you see, they held the very special, very magical role of creating the dreams of all the creatures on the planet below.

"She's too fast!"

Then one day a pony called Nightmare Moon arrived, and the contented life the Nyx had had until then had ended.

"She _is_ the sister of our mistress, after all!"

She had always had the ability to enter dreams, but the source of _all_ dreams?

"Ack! Don't let her get to the tunnels!"

 _That_ was a prize worth taking.

"Why not? If we cut off the exits - "

And so, Nightmare Moon enslaved the Nyx, twisting both their duty and their very forms – into creatures of fear and smoke.

"She can _teleport_ , you dingus!"

From that day on, the Nyx were no more – now there was only the Nightmare Forces.

"How does she keep hiding when her hair glows in the dark?!"

Nightmare Moon was not in need of an army – she had created her own.

"You can't keep running forever, Princess!"

Now that Nightmare Moon had broken out from the moon she commanded? The Nightmare Forces were ready and willing to be her vanguard.

"Over here! She's over – agh!"

…or at least, they would be if they weren't busy playing cat and mouse with Princess Celestia.

Horn smoking gently, Celestia winced as the smoke creature who had found her drifted down to the tunnel floor. It was unhurt, of course – Nightmare Moon had corrupted their forms far too much for that – but that meant it would get back up any moment. Charging up her horn, Celestia teleported up as high as the seal would let her, wings outstretched to arrest her fall. She wasn't as high as she would like, but any further from the surface and that would count as leaving the moon.

Some of the ex-Nyx down below had spotted her already, yelling to their comrades. _Good._ Celestia thought. _In their rush to catch me, they've forgotten any idea they had about going to Earth. If I can keep the Nightmare Forces occupied up here, my little ponies will have the best chance at dealing with their mistress._ Twilight was down there. And Cadence. And Philomena. Kibitz, Raven, Diamond Waves, Inkwell… Celestia remembered all the reasons that she had to stop that malevolent force of darkness.

 _You shouldn't have sent me to the moon, Nightmare._ Celestia thought in the general direction of Earth, twisting down into an attention-grabbing dive. _Up here, I can_ help.

But as she watched the Nightmare Forces rise up as an enormous wave of smoke, appearing to cover the entire horizon, another, weaker voice spoke up in her head.

 _Whoever is fighting her down there… please, hurry._

 _I'm not sure how long I can keep this up._

* * *

The sun was gone.

"Much better." Nightmare Moon tossed her hair over one shoulder, where it continued to drift in a nonexistent breeze. "You had one thing right, girl – Eternal Night cannot coexist with that idiotic ball of fire."

The _sun_ was _gone_.

Twilight felt any courage she might have had drain out of her. Nightmare Moon was still talking, but she had to force herself to listen to the words. Her body just seemed to want to curl up and cry.

"Someone out there is trying to end my reign before it begins." Nightmare Moon concluded, glancing up at the sky as though _daring_ the sun to reappear. "I have no more time to be playing with small-fry. Shadowbolts!"

The _**sun**_ was _**gone**_.

Nightmare Moon's clouds of smoke snapped to attention. Nightmare Moon made a 'come' motion with her hands, dissolving into her mist-form as she did so. The Shadowbolts, in kind, became smoke once more. The clouds spiralled around each other, mixing together at the midpoint between them. Soon, there was only one cloud in the clearing.

A smaller cloud split off from the main one, and turned into Nightmare Moon.

Then another cloud broke off, and also turned into Nightmare Moon.

Then a third Nightmare Moon formed.

Then a fourth.

And a fifth.

And a sixth.

What was left of the original cloud squeezed itself into a solid form, and there were seven Nightmare Moons in the clearing.

"Spread out." One of the Nightmare Moons commanded the others. "The further we are apart, the easier it will be to find anyone who tries to end Eternal Night again. Go!"

The others nodded in unison, and sped out of the park, each in a different direction. They did not run, instead they each glided over the ground like the clouds they had just been. The Nightmare Mist also split itself, an equal portion following each departing sorceress. The lead Nightmare Moon turned to depart herself, then turned back. "Ah yes, I nearly forgot you. My little thorn…"

Kuroko clutched her nails tight. That Nightmare Moon was looking at the unconscious body of Misaka.

Sissy had lost. One foe had become many. The sun had gone from the sky. All of the rules were being broken tonight.

But if that woman thought that Kuroko was just going to stand by and let her do whatever she wanted to Sissy, then she was wrong.

{Saten.} The Judgement member muttered. {Do not let go of me.}

Saten started, getting Kuroko's meaning imminently. {But - }

Kuroko shot Saten a glace that expressed in no uncertain terms ' _No buts_ '. She then turned her head back to Nightmare Moon, who was gathering another handful of Nightmare Mist. The monster-woman glanced over at Kuroko, the now-familiar mix of arrogance and amusement in her eyes.

The nail in Kuroko's hand vanished silently.

The dark smile on Nightmare Moon's face suddenly twisted, the smug grin replaced abruptly with a look of pain and shock. Her left hand shot up to her right shoulder, which suddenly had a familiar-looking piece of metal lodged in it.

Any guilty hope of crippling the woman was vanished as she glared at her arm, seemingly _forcing_ it to turn insubstantial as she had done before. The Judgement member's nail fell to the ground with a -plop- as the solid it was embedded in became gas instead. Nightmare Moon reformed her arm, no evidence of her injury remaining.

But injuring her _hadn't_ been the Teleporter's goal. While she had been fixing her arm, Nightmare Moon had been distracted for several seconds. Kuroko only needed two.

Determine her position in the first eleven dimensions. Then, determine her destination in the same space. Calculate the eleven-dimensional line connecting those two points in space, exploiting the curvature of extra-dimensional space. Through the miracle of Rote learning and the Academy City development program, Kuroko had gotten this mental process down to one second in execution.

One Mississippi. Kuroko was now kneeling next to Misaka, Saten's right hand still gripping her shoulder with the grasp of a frightened young girl.

Two Mississippi. The three Academy City girls were outside the park altogether.

Three Mississippi. The American girls could not longer see their Japanese counterparts.

Four Mississippi.

Five Mississippi.

At this point, the remaining girls cottoned onto the fact that they had just been _ditched_.

Nightmare Moon's arm became solid again, and she didn't even spare the girls a glance as she flew after the Judgement member, not wanting to let her prey escape.

The oppressive pressure in the park vanished as the Queen of Eternal Night made her exit, but the Humansville girls felt no better for it. It should have been early morning right now, but the sky was pitch black. The moon was nowhere to be seen, and the stars were being washed out by the lights of Academy City. The only sound was the electrical crackling of the lightning bolt Rainbow still clutched in one hand.

"It's cold."

Twilight had only known Fluttershy for a short time, but she had gotten the impression that her usual quietness was because she was nervous about talking to others. The soft tones that she had just used sounded instead like she wanted someone to talk over her, contradict her, make what she said not true.

"Yeah." Rainbow Dash's voice was unusually sombre. "Yeah it is."

Fluttershy's gaze fell to her feet. Confirmation had been the last thing she wanted.

Right now, the chill of night should have been alleviated by the warmth of day. Rays of sunlight should have been casting their golden glow over all the world, as they had since the Earth's formation. The fact that they weren't, when the girls knew that they should, made the world seem distorted.

Broken.

Applejack suddenly spoke up. "Magic can fix this, righ'?"

Rarity glanced at Twilight, who was still staring at the sky. "I… I think so. I mean, that sounds like a spell someone would have made?" Absently, she began chewing on perfectly manicured, purple-coloured nails.

Applejack inhaled. "So we get some other cabal to dig a spell outa their closet, and -"

"Not that simple." Rainbow folded her hands. "Didja see how easy she took out the sun? We put it back, and she'll just take it away again."

Applejack frowned angrily. "So what do we do?"

"I'll take her out."

The other five girls turned their heads to stare at Twilight's declaration.

Rainbow blinked a few times. "You mean _we'll_ take her out."

"No, I mean _I_ will." Twilight glared at Rainbow. Heat was forming in her chest, as if to fight off the cold of the unnatural night. It seemed to be washing away her fear, and her hesitation. And her politeness. "I'm the only one here who stands a chance, now."

Rainbow's eyes hardened. "Say that again?"

"You were useless in that last battle." Twilight poked Rainbow in the chest.

"So were you!" Rainbow growled back.

Pinkie's eyes were tracking back and forth between Rainbow and Twilight like she was watching a tennis match. "Like, even if that's true Twilight, she kinda went zing!" She made an explosive gesture. "Surprise! There's lots of me now!"

"I'll have to take them _all_ out." Twilight started striding forwards, in the direction one of the Nightmare Moons had departed in.

She found her path blocked by Applejack. "No, this is stupid. _You_ are being stupid." She said. "Ya can't take her by yourself, and you'll just get hurt trying."

"I didn't ask you to come along." Twilight glared. "What have you done to help?"

"Ah saved your life." Applejack said, firmly.

Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it. "Thanks." She pushed past Applejack, sounding anything but grateful. "I won't need you to do that again."

"Well, phooey to you too!" Rainbow spat. Her wings extended out, and she floated up off the ground. "I bet I don't need your help either!"

Applejack spun around. "Rainbow, don't -"

Rainbow zoomed out of the park, heedless of Applejack's cry. Twilight rolled her eyes, and strolled out of the park.

Applejack gnashed her teeth, turning back to the others. "Those idiots are gonna – Rarity?!"

The girl in question was walking – not hastily, firmly – in the direction one of the other Nightmare Moons had gone. "Don't mind me, girls." She called back. "Just following up on a hunch of mine."

"Ooh, are we all splitting up? I'll take this one!" Pinkie bounced after another unclaimed foe.

"Gah!" Applejack tried to contain her frustration in her throat, only partially succeeding. She looked at the only other person left.

Fluttershy had at some point dropped to her knees. She was wringing her hands together, and though her hair had fallen such that it obscured her face, Applejack was sure that Fluttershy's eyes were aimed well away from meeting her own.

Applejack bit her lower lip. She looked around the park, to the hole in the ground they had emerged from, then back to Fluttershy, who curled even more into herself when she did so.

Applejack grunted angrily, then stomped out of the park.

* * *

Through the artificially-lit streets of Academy City, a blur passed through the air so fast it left a rainbow-coloured afterimage. At street corners, the blur pulled impossibly sharp turns so as to follow the road exactly. A careful observer, however, would note that the blur did not seem to be heading in any particular direction – it turned random directions at intersections, frequently travelling in circles.

Eventually the blur slowed to a stop, hovering in the air above a highway, and Rainbow Dash finally admitted to herself that she had no idea where she was going.

It was supposed to be simple! Moony (Geddit? 'Cause it rhymes with Loony?) had gone this way, so she went after her. Meet up, be awesome, rub it in Twilight's face, and go home with the day saved.

Only Nightmare Moon must have turned off somewhere and now Rainbow was lost in Academy City _again_. She glared at the lightning bolt still clutched in her right hand. And carrying this around was just awkward and in the way!

Grumbling, she took a tiny glass jar out of an equally tiny skirt pocket. In blatant defiance of all sense, she stuffed the lightning bolt into that glass jar as though it was cotton. Screwing the lid on and stuffing the jar back into her skirt now meant she had both hands free again, but she still didn't know where her foe had gone. All these skyscrapers were blocking her line-of-sight, if she could just _see_ -

Rainbow's eyes slowly closed as she smacked herself in the head. With an abrupt -zoom-, she climbed halfway to the cloud layer in the space of a few seconds. Having regained her preferred bird's-eye view, Rainbow scanned the city below her. It was night, sure, but Academy City was lit up so brightly that even the laid-back weather mage felt like complaining about light pollution.

Movement caught her eye. A wide smirk, full of far too much cocky attitude, plastered itself across her face as she dived down toward what she had seen. The closer she got, the more detail she could make out, so while she was tempted to just charge straight in, she paused, just close enough to make out basic details, to see what was happening.

On one side was Nightmare Moon, or one of them at any rate. She was waving her arms as though holding invisible whips, directing her Nightmare Mist into thin slashing attacks. Her target…

Rainbow squinted, then whistled. _Cool, robots._

Each one looked like a human in heavy armour, but instead of normal helmets they had what looked like oil drums mounted on their shoulders. They were armed with what seemed to be oversized grenade launchers, with the exception of two such robots at the back of the group; they were manning hoses attached to a truck similar in appearance to a fire engine.

As Rainbow watched, Nightmare Moon swung her arm and cleaved one of the drum-head robots vertically in half. Liquid sprayed from the sliced metal as the force of the blow set both pieces flying apart. Both pieces fell to the ground with sharp, metallic -clang-s.

She didn't even get halfway though another attack before Rainbow's foot struck the back of her head.

Her body flew with the force of the kick, hitting the ground with a wet -crack-. Rainbow smirked for a moment, but her eyes widened in surprise when she realised that instead of blood, mist had erupted from Nightmare Moon's body. Dissolving like snow, the body lying in a depression in the asphalt melted into particles of mist once again.

Rainbow crossed her arms in front of her chest in time to somewhat block the retaliatory surge of Nightmare Mist. Rainbow let the mist push her back into the sky, letting the attack spend its energy uselessly. Looking down, she saw Nightmare Moon reform in the same spot she'd kicked her out of. Rainbow grinned ferociously down at her.

Nightmare Moon stared back with a cold expression. With her left hand she made a grasping motion, and the loose Nightmare Mist that Rainbow thought she had harmlessly deflected suddenly moved back in. It formed into a solid block behind and above Rainbow so that she was now surrounded. In the span of a heartbeat the mist had grabbed her like a giant fist and shoved her down into the asphalt.

Even mixed in with the sound of the road surface crunching under the her-shaped hammer, Rainbow was sure she heard the sound of her bones cracking. Her precious wings were being crushed against her back, the plastic groaning in a way that alarmed Rainbow even more than her probably-broken bones.

"You?!"

Rainbow managed to tilt her head up enough to see Nightmare Moon glaring down at her. Her expression reminded Rainbow of the Apple family whenever they talked about the weeds in their orchid.

"Are you really that eager to die, girl?!" Nightmare Moon lifted one of her mist-whips up above her head, ready to bring her arm down like a guillotine.

Still pinned in the Nightmare Mist's grasp, Rainbow gritted her teeth, clenching her eyes shut.

 **-BOOM-**

Rainbow's eyes flew open immediently, but she still missed whatever caused Nightmare Moon to move. Regardless, Rainbow spotted her flying uncontrolled through the air, slamming into a building on the side of the road.

" _Does idiot woman think adults will just stand and let child get hurt?!_ "

Rainbow blinked at the surprisingly familiar voice. She couldn't remember her name, but… "Anti-Skill lady?"

The voice had come from one of the things that Rainbow had thought were robots. A different one, one of the pair holding hoses, pointed its nozzle at her and opened the valve. A thick dark powder erupted from the hose, covering her.

Dully, Rainbow realised that the firm grip of the Nightmare Mist had been reduced to the weight of the powder. It seemed that whatever it was, it absorbed water. She stood up but immediently regretted it. The pain shooting through her chest was far worse than it had been after she had been slammed into a tree earlier tonight. She staggered to one side, clutching her right arm.

Two of the maybe-robots charged Nightmare Moon, opening up with a pair of deafening **-BOOM-** noises from their weapons. Rainbow couldn't see what came out of the barrel due to the speed of the attack and the poor lighting, but large chunks of the concrete Nightmare Moon was still pressed against vanished abruptly, along with the sorceress. The concrete seemed to have been blown away so fast that Rainbow couldn't see it. The two hose-wielding maybe-robots sprayed their powder until it thickly covered the area.

Rainbow turned to the mass of metal that the Anti-Skill lady's voice had come out of. One of her wings managed to twitch feebly. "You guys don't mess around, huh?" She rasped out.

The drum-shaped head turned to face Rainbow Dash. Then hands were grasping the back of her head as something was forcefully held over her nose and mouth…

* * *

No-one who knew her would say Fluttershy was a fighter. No-one seeing her now would say any different. Her eyes were wet with tears. Her arms were held timidly in front of her chest. Her entire posture screamed out 'Please don't hurt me!'

Unlike the others, Fluttershy hadn't moved from her spot in the park. She couldn't – if she tried, she was sure that she would just dived back down the hole to Humansville and hide under her covers, hoping desperately for someone much braver than her to save the day.

"Meow~"

Fluttershy started slightly. Something small and furry was rubbing against her leg. With a startled look, Fluttershy identified it as a cat. "Oh! Um, where did you…"

"Bark bark!" "Tweet!"

Dogs, birds and other small animals were approaching her out of the mouths of alleyways, out of the sky… Fluttershy was being swarmed by the stray animals of Academy City. A knot of tension escaped her lips as a giggle at the familiar sensation of being enveloped in fur and feathers.

"I'm all right… really, I am!" Fluttershy reassured the assembled animals. "I'm just -" She paused as one Calico kitten, barely any larger than her hand, looked up into her eyes as if to say _Really really?_

"Really!" Fluttershy insisted. The cat continued to look up at her. One ear twitched.

Fluttershy managed to maintain eye contact for another few seconds before slumping down, her eyes shifting down and right. "No, not really."

Twilight had been angry that none of them could help against Nightmare Moon, but… what exactly had Twilight expected Fluttershy to do? She wasn't a mild-mannered clerk wearing spandex underneath. She didn't have a mysterious past as a mercenary fighting overseas. She was exactly what she looked like: a young girl shivering with fear in the unnatural cold of the too-long night. She barley knew enough magic to be called a magician, what could she do against someone like Nightmare Moon? Someone who was so scary, the magicians of a thousand years later panicked upon hearing that she was returning?

Among the various animal noises, the sound of human, if foreign, language suddenly sounded. Fluttershy's head snapped up in surprise.

There was a girl standing in the mouth of the same ally many of Fluttershy's new friends had emerged from. She had silver hair, and was wearing a white nun's habit with gold trim. Seeing Fluttershy's eyes meet her own, the girl called out to her again in what sounded like the same language as before.

"I'm sorry." For some reason, the thought of dealing with a member of her own species caused Fluttershy to curl into herself even more than the thought of facing Nightmare Moon. "I… I don't understand what you're saying."

The girl frowned. "Do you know who I am?" She said, this time in English. There was a slight British twang behind her words. The serious tone of her voice was offset by the childish voice it was spoken with – the girl sounded like she was ten, though she looked slightly older than that.

"S-should I?" Fluttershy felt like she'd failed some secret test. The animals around her had slowly stopped nuzzling her so much, staring at the newcomer to the scene.

In contrast, the girl seemed to relax slightly. Only slightly, though. She started to walk forwards, and Fluttershy could see that she held a piece of table-cloth, folded several times to that it formed a distinct wedge. The way the girl was holding it, one would think she was holding a knife instead. "You are using the tale of Sleeping Beauty." She said. "Specifically, the blessings of the seven good faeries. That's why the animals feel safe around you: they can feel the blessings of the fey."

Fluttershy's mouth fell open. She blinked stupidly at the complete stranger who had started dictating her own magic back to her like it was written on her face.

"What is a magician doing in Academy City?" The other girl asked.

"I – this is Academy City?!" Fluttershy's back went completely straight. The animals around her scampered away at the cry, but Fluttershy was so worried she almost didn't notice. This was the centre of the Science Side, the natural enemies of the Magic Side! She was a rabbit sitting in a den of foxes! Even… even if the whole thing with Nightmare Moon was fixed, Fluttershy would be in big trouble just for being here!

"You didn't know?" The girl put her hands on her hips. Her head was tilted to the side, her eyes focusing tightly on Fluttershy's face.

"No!" Fluttershy burst out, then clapped her hands over her mouth, suddenly realising how loud she was being. "We…" She paused, the ingrained habit of 'not talking with strangers about magic' insisting that she stop talking.

Then again, this girl already knew so much…

"There was a hole in the ground. I think it was maybe possibly a portal, although now that I think about it I not really the sort of person to ask –"

The girl frowned. "I thought as much. Where from?"

"Um." Fluttershy blinked. Where was what from? The portal? "America?"

"America?" The girl seemed confused by the answer. "Only that far? Well, it _was_ called the new world…" She shook her head. "No, anywhere _that circle_ leads to should be far stranger then that…"

"…huh?" 'Only that far'? Why would this girl think it lead somewhere else?

The girl stared off into space, her eyes clouded over with thought. Seconds went by in silence. The Calico kitten that had stared down Fluttershy earlier moved over to sniff at the hem of the girl's habit.

"Um." Fluttershy tried her best to find her manners around the lump of nervousness in her throat. "I'm Fluttershy."

"Hm?" The other girl blinked back down at Fluttershy, as if just remembering she was there. "Oh, how rude of me! I'm Index."

Fluttershy swallowed, looking the other girl up and down. Realisticly, there was no reason for Fluttershy to be so worried. The girl looked younger than Fluttershy, and was definitely smaller.

The trouble was, Index had an air of confidence and seriousness about her, so Fluttershy just didn't feel comfortable around her.

"Now, the one who's interfering with the sun…" Index said, causing Fluttershy to flinch backward. "She came from that Faerie Ring, didn't she?"

"F-faerie ring?"

"The hole in the ground over there."

"O-oh. Yes, s-she did…" How did she know that?

"Hmm. Yes, that makes sense." Index muttered. "Is the theme of the legend influencing it's destination? Although, snuffing the sun out like a candle seems to be going far beyond mere 'misfortune'…"

Index rubbed her chin with her hand, drawing Fluttershy's attention back to the linen she was still holding.

"Um…" Fluttershy glanced down at the fabric that Index was still holding out, as though she was going to stab someone with it. "…why are you holding that linen like that?"

"Well," Index said, shooting Fluttershy a look as though it should be obvious. "In case I have to stab you, of course."

* * *

Fluttershy was a timid young pegasus. She loved her animals, and they loved her back, thanks to her Special Talent. She was very grateful to Rainbow Dash for being her friend.

_ was a timid young _. She loved her animals, and they loved her back, thanks to her _. She was very grateful to _ for being her friend.

Fluttershy was a timid young magician. She loved her animals, and they loved her back, thanks to her 'friend to all animals' spell. She was very grateful to Rainbow Dash for being her friend.

* * *

Long ago, Pinkie Pie had promised herself that she would never run anywhere. Hopping, skipping and bouncing were all much more fun. Some people felt she was just being silly. That was okay, just as long as they thought that with a smile. Pinkie wanted _everyone_ to laugh and smile.

Sometimes, however, Pinkie wished she had a Pinkie of her own to make _her_ laugh and smile, in the times when she _really_ didn't feel like it. Like, say, on a night when her Pinkie Sense wouldn't stop warning her about the _bad things_ that were coming.

Granny Pie had always said to laugh at what you were afraid of.

But Granny Pie had also told her not to laugh at other people's pain.

So, when _another_ little shake passed though her elbow, she started humming an upbeat, cheery tune to herself slightly louder than really necessary.

Nightmare Moon was floating above the top of a skyscraper, slowly turning in place. Pinkie would never have spotted her if not for the huge mass of Nightmare Mist spreading out like an umbrella over the edge of the building. The building was locked, so it was a good thing Pinkie had brought her suction cups. You know. In case of a suction emergency.

Nightmare Moon was watching as Pinkie pulled herself up and over the edge of the roof. The ancient sorceress's face was empty in a way that didn't really seem to be emotionless – rather, she gave off the impression that she simply hadn't decided yet how she was going to react. Pinkie took the opportunity to stand up, dust herself off, and give a big smile. (Not forced at all. Really. Not even a little bit.)

"Hello!" She waved enthusiasticly to Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon looked Pinkie up and down. Her face still retained that undecided blankness.

"So," Pinkie bounced on the balls of her feet. "do you like parties?"

Nightmare Moon continued to stare impassively.

Pinkie held a fist up to her mouth and turned her head to the side. "Target is resistant to parties. Abort, abort, abort."

Nightmare Moon raised an arm.

Before she could do anything with it however, Pinkie's left knee suddenly folded underneath her. The pink haired teen flopped to the ground with an undignified -ack!-.

For a moment, Nightmare Moon and Pinkie Pie both held still. A silence (not quite awkward, not quite empty) stretched across the rooftop.

"Ah-ha!" Pinkie cried, springing back to her feet like… well, a spring. Her smile seemed much more _real_ than a second ago. "My left knee just gave out! You know what that means?"

Nightmare Moon's face had still not changed expression.

"I'm about to make a new friend!" Pinkie cried with delight, closing her eyes and smiling all the wider.

Nightmare Moon finally broke her silence when she let out a slight sigh.

Pinkie's smile turned down at the edges. "What, you don't believe me?"

"No, I do." Nightmare Moon said. "Death has never refused the company of another."

"Yay! …wait, what?"

* * *

Pinkie Pie was an earth pony who had devoted her entire life to spreading happiness and cheer wherever she could. She couldn't stand the thought of _not_ being friends with someone.

_ was _ who had devoted her entire life to spreading happiness and cheer wherever she could. She couldn't stand the thought of _not_ being friends with someone.

Pinkie Pie was a Gemstone who had devoted her entire life to spreading happiness and cheer wherever she could. She couldn't stand the thought of _not_ being friends with someone.

* * *

The sound of thick boots sinking into soft, spongy soil proceeded Applejack as she strode angrily into the depths of the park. The pocket of nature was small enough to walk through in five minutes; but the unnatural darkness of the sky, coupled with the lack of street-lamps, made it seem like it continued forever.

Applejack knew that Nightmare Moon had passed this way for one very simple reason. Normal people passing through the undergrowth of a forest, even one as small and well-maintained as this one, would leave traces as they disturbed leaf litter and stepped on or over small plants.

One might think that, as she floated above the ground, Nightmare Moon would not leave such traces. Such an assumption would fail to account for Nightmare Moon's apparent hatred of trees.

 _So,_ Applejack thought to herself, climbing over the splintered stub of a freshly-destroyed tree, _what'cha gonna do, missy?_

She didn't have long to think. It didn't even take half a minute to find Nightmare Moon, even concealed in the dark of the treeline. She was facing away from Applejack as she walked in, but with her boots noisily crunching leaf-litter underfoot there was no way she didn't know Applejack was there.

Accordingly, Applejack didn't bother trying to hide. "Did th' trees do somethin' to offend ya somehow? I kinda feel like this is more than a mite over tha top."

Nightmare Moon turned her head slightly, one eye staring over at Applejack. "Speak not of matters of which you are ignorant. You have interrupted your queen when she is busy. Are you not afraid?"

Applejack glanced down at the splintered remains of shattered tree trunks strewn at Nightmare Moon's feet. Half of them seemed to have been arranged in some kind of pattern – they looked vaguely like faces. She'd only met the girl today, but Applejack was willing to bet that Twilight would know just what Nightmare Moon was up to.

But Twilight had stormed off on her own, so Applejack was limited to guessing 'magic'.

"Ah wanna know somethin'." Applejack found that it was a lot easier to keep her voice steady if she thought about the trees being destroyed as petty vandalism, and not as practise for doing the same to people. "Ya said that you wanna rule everythin', righ'?"

Nightmare Moon turned around bodily, giving Applejack her full attention. "It seems that one of you _can_ listen after all."

"Yeah, that's the bit that don't make sense." Applejack tried to look around the tiny man-made forest without seeming like she was avoiding looking at Nightmare Moon. The trees weren't packed together too tightly – there was something like five yards between any two trees. (But this was Japan, so it was actually about four and a half metres). Trees weren't all there were – tiny irrigation sprinklers could be barely glimpsed in the dark, and rocks ranging from pebbles to small boulders were scattered randomly around. The glimmer of an idea started forming in the back of her mind. "Ya want this 'Eternal Night' thing, _and_ ya want to be queen."

"Of course." Nightmare Moon replied easily. Her features smoothed over into a softer version of her usual haughty grin. "Is it not fitting for the princess of night to become the queen of darkness everlasting?"

"Not if ya want any subjects, it ain't." Applejack snapped.

Any softness in Nightmare Moon's face vanished along with her grin.

"Ah admit, ah ain't the best at all that fancy history stuff. But I'm pretty sure that even a thousand years ago, people weren't this _stupid_."

To the world of magic, the sun was often considered a god, or a divine blessing on the same level. Its holy power kept the world warm and lit. In many religions, the sun going out was a sign of the end of the world. To absolutely no one was the sun going away forever considered a good thing.

To the world of science, it was arguably even worse. Every single model of Earth held the fundamental assumption of the presence of Sol. Even assuming that the gravitational mass of the Sun somehow remained, that was approximately 7.32 _quintillion_ joules of energy _not_ reaching the Earth every minute. It was probably easier to imagine that there was an impossibly powerful freeze ray pointed at Earth, and that Nightmare Moon was squeezing the trigger for all it was worth.

The corner of Nightmare Moon's mouth began to twitch. Then, to Applejack's stark amazement, Nightmare Moon's mouth curled into a smile.

"Ha… ha ha…"

Nightmare Moon was _laughing_.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

As quickly as it had come, Nightmare Moon's laughter halted, and anger filled her eyes. "Who is this, that you would insult me so?"

"Ah'm Applejack." Applejack should have been frightened. She knew that. But she had promised to wake her little sister up, and to be there so they could see the sun rise together. And Applejack wasn't the kind of person who would ever break a promise. Especially not to her little sister. "I work at mah granny's apple farm, and ah'm going back there after ah'm finished here."

"A serf." Nightmare Moon spat. "A serf stands before me, calling me a fool."

"Ya call me that again, an' ah'll be washing out your mouth with somethin' mighty stronger than soap." Applejack bent down. There was a rock sitting at her feet about the size of a football. Her ever-present hat had made it through the weird hole in the ground okay, so Applejack took it off and retrieved her prized lasso from where it had been placed inside. Keeping her eyes on Nightmare Moon, Applejack quickly and deftly tied the non-lasso end of the rope around the rock. Standing back up, Applejack now had a length of rope with a large rock firmly tied to one end.

"You insult me _again_."

Nightmare Mist was seeping out of the tree remains, abandoning whatever task they had had. It formed a backdrop behind its master, as if to mock Applejack and her improvised weapon. "You behave as if that will do more than annoy me. This, added to you implying my ignorance as to the effects of Eternal Night?"

Applejack's firm grip on her rope went slack in shock. "Ya… ya can't mean…"

"Of course I know what Eternal Night will do. I am the queen of night, you think I know nothing about my own domain?" Nightmare Moon's smile was wide. Wide enough to show Applejack once again that her teeth were pointed. "But you needn't worry."

The Nightmare Mist spread out, encircling Applejack.

"After all, _the most important person in the world_ will be _perfectly_ safe."

* * *

Applejack was a stereotypical earth pony. A hard worker, steadfast companion, and a skilled farmer. Her family was more important to her than anything in the world.

_ was a stereotypical _. A hard worker, steadfast companion, and a skilled farmer. Her family was more important to her than anything in the world.

Applejack was a stereotypical southern farmgirl. A hard worker, steadfast companion, and a skilled farmer. Her family was more important to her than anything in the world.

* * *

Uiharu Kazari lived alone. She had had a roommate at one point, but circumstances had changed, and now she lived by herself in a two-person apartment. It wasn't so bad, most of the time. She had Saten at school and Kuroko at work. Of course, most of the time she wasn't sleeping off a bad head cold.

Also, most of the time she wasn't being woken up by Kuroko kicking her out of bed.

With an undignified -thud-, Uiharu fell to the floor. Her eyes shot open, pain driving the fog out of her eyes.

{Wake up.} Kuroko told her flatly, jumping down off the same bed she'd just kicked Uiharu off.

Uiharu blinked stupidly, her eyes misting over with tears. {Owww… That hurt…}

{You weren't answering your phone.} A vein was visibly throbbing in Kuroko's head as she loomed over Uiharu. Slightly intimidated by how furious her Judgement partner looked, Uiharu picked herself off the floor. And then she blinked again, this time in surprise.

{Saten?}

{Hey, Uiharu.} Saten waved from where she was standing by the door of her room. The door was still closed, not that that would have stopped Kuroko from getting in. Saten looked… actually kind of worried. Or was that fear in her eyes?

Uiharu looked back at Kuroko. {What's going on?}

Kuroko jerked her head at the second bed in the room.

Uiharu looked, and let out a little shriek. {M-misaka!}

Misaka Mikoto was lying on the top bunk of the bunk bed. Her head was wrapped in bandages, through which small amounts of blood were seeping through. Her eyes were closed, her breathing steady. Uiharu's first-aid training had nothing but indicators that Misaka would be okay.

But that _wasn't_ okay, because even if she _was_ alright, she was lying on a bed showing signs of violence and of a battle lost. Uiharu felt like the floor was tilting under her, and she staggered backwards slightly. Misaka was the third-ranked esper in Academy City. As espers didn't exist outside said city, it wasn't at all an exaggeration to say that there were only _two_ espers in the _entire world_ stronger than her.

Uiharu, shaking slightly, turned her head to her partner. {W-was it –?}

Kuroko shook her head. {Her head hit the ground hard, but I don't think she has a concussion.}

{N-no, I mean…} Uiharu bit her lip. {Who…?}

{Some idiot who thought they were being clever.} Kuroko opened Uiharu's chest of draws, retrieving a portable game console which she tossed to her partner. {She's not our biggest problem right now.}

Uiharu fumbled the catch, but caught the device before she could drop it. Someone who had _K.O.'d Misaka_ wasn't the biggest problem? _Kuroko_ had said that? Bringing the object up to her face, her eyes grew even wider. It was the heavily hacked console she used when her Judgement duties required her to be out in the field, rather than safe in her office.

Kuroko jabbed a thumb at the front door. {We don't have time for you to get to to the 177th branch, so you'll have to make do with that. I need you to find - }

{Wait wait wait!}

Uiharu and Kuroko both turned to Saten, both having forgotten she was there in the heat of the moment.

{You're not seriously going back out after _her_ , are you?} Saten blurted out.

Kuroko crossed her arms. {I am a member of Judgement. It is my job to keep the peace - }

{This is well beyond just 'keeping the peace'!} Saten insisted.

Uiharu wished the two of them would fill her in on what exactly was going on. It was still dark out, why was anyone even awake?

…hang on. According to the time on her gaming console, the sun should have risen by now. Uiharu glanced around her room. The same time was displayed on her bedside clock and her watch.

{What's going on?} She wondered out loud, worry creeping into her tone.

Kuroko glared at Saten. {I need you to find a woman for me. She's wearing purple plate armour - }

{What are you even going to - }

{SHUT UP!}

Saten stared at Kuroko, fully taken aback by the outburst. For her part, the twin-tailed teleporter huffed and puffed, cheeks flushed, and Saten began to comprehend just how _angry_ Kuroko was. Uiharu looked on, confused and scared at the high tension her friends seemed to be under.

Then a weak voice spoke into the silence from the other bed. {Do you really have to be so loud?}

All hostility vanished instantly from Kuroko's posture, as the furious Judgement Officer melted into a fretting schoolgirl. {Sissy! Oh my goodness I was so _worried_ – quick, let me give you a full-body inspection.} Kuroko strode over, stood on the bottom bunk so she could see the top one, and lifted up Misaka's shirt.

-ZAP-!

Kuroko fell to the ground, twitching. Misaka examined her hand, sparks jumping between her fingers. {Well, my Ability seems to be working the same…}

{Ah! You shouldn't be moving yet, Misaka!} Uiharu objected as Misaka started to sit up.

The Electromaster waved her concerns off. {I'm fine. If I was _really_ hurt, Kuroko would have brought me to a hospital.}

Kuroko's body gave another twitch.

{Anyway, I can't really call myself the #3 if I let stuff like this go, so I'm going to go crush the one responsible, okay?} Misaka dropped down from the bed and started stretching.

{No, it's not okay!} Uiharu objected again, watching Misaka gingerly touch her bandaged head.

{Misaka…} Saten said, and then stopped. {Do you… have a plan?}

Misaka blinked as she unwrapped the cloth from around her head. {I'd have to be an idiot to go back without one, so yeah.}

{Then…} Saten's eyes lit up. {Then tell me what I can do!}

{Not this time.} Misaka ruthlessly shot down. {You stay here with Uiharu. I don't have time to keep you safe tonight.}

The light in Saten's eyes went out.

Meanwhile, Kuroko was shakily pushing herself off the ground. {Sissy, wait –!}

{Better hurry if you want to keep up, Kuroko!} Misaka told her firmly, opening and striding out the door. Kuroko growled, then vanished from her position on the floor.

Uiharu glanced at Saten. The junior high girl was still frozen in place. Her eyes hadn't moved, as though Misaka would come back and change her mind if she just kept staring.

The remaining Judgement officer bit her lip, but sat down and slid out the portable console's tiny keyboard.

As she started up the various programs she would need tonight, she saw Saten's shoulders slowly slump down, her head tilting until her chin nearly rested on her chest.

{But I want to help…}

* * *

Nightmare Moon frowned.

She was floating, high over one of the strange roads that criss-crossed this also-strange city.

Chasing after the impudent girl with the nails had proved impossible. Her ability to ignore all physical barriers had allowed her to avoid her peruser, despite the fact that she was carrying two others.

Nightmare Moon was not ignorant of teleportation – though she wouldn't know that word for it – but the girl hadn't given off the all-important trail of Mana that Nightmare Moon would have normally tracked. A Gemstone, then. Bah.

More annoying than the Mana that she couldn't sense, however, was the Mana that she _could_. All across this city of stone-stuff and glass were indications that the other hers were fighting unknown assailants.

 _No grace in defeat._ Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. As long as Eternal Night continued, it didn't matter what they did. Even if they actually succeeded in destroying some of her, anything other than her victory was impossible.

Speaking of Mana flares… the girl from earlier was approaching her, working an enchantment of some kind. Not the girl who had, however briefly, fought Nightmare Moon to a standstill. Instead, it was the girl who had blasted _that_ girl when Nightmare Moon had entrapped the first in waking dreams. One of the girls from her sister's village.

"Nightmare Moon!" The girl yelled out a challenge. "I'm here to put an end to your schemes!"

"My." Nightmare Moon purred, staring down at the magician more than a thousand years her junior. "Such a bold claim you make…"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle!" The girl halted her advance, standing next to one of the metal carriages that seemed to be quite popular in this time. "I am the student of Princess Celestia!"

Oh? Now _that_ was interesting.

 _Very_ interesting.

Nightmare Moon chuckled. "You mean the sister of mine who could not even slow me down? And you think a mere _student_ of hers can defeat me? Where _does_ this strange belief originate from?"

Twilight glared up at her. "Necessity."

Desperation, in other words.

Nightmare Moon glanced up and down the road. "Your companions seem to have left you."

Twilight's body shifted uneasily. "They would have been no help."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Nightmare Mist swirled around her in thin clouds. "They would have made your failures look better by comparison."

Twilight clenched her teeth. _Recall the legend of Galatea. Call on the power of Aphrodite and Hephaestus._ She raised a fist in front of herself, gathering Mana within… then she suddenly swung it into the car next to her.

" _Come to life._ "

The roar of an engine suddenly filled what was supposed to be early morning. The headlights of the car flicked on with with the engine. Twilight stepped to one side as the car's rear wheels screeched, literally burning rubber as the car surged forwards with all haste.

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. Unless the carriage could fly, animating it was a complete waste of time when she remained out of its reach.

Twilight knew this perfectly well. She also knew that, even if cars _could_ fly, that a barrier of Nightmare Mist would just spring up to protect her.

But. What if she went to the car instead?

Twilight pointed a finger at the speeding vehicle. " _Want it need it._ "

Nightmare Moon eyes, tracking the car, suddenly went from nonchalant to _very_ interested.

Twilight looked away, screwing her eyes shut. If this worked, she didn't want to see. _Come on._ She mentally begged. _You know you want it. Just go down at get it…_

All Twilight knew was the sound of the car's engine, and of its tyres squealing as it raced down the road. Then…

-Crunch-

Twilight peeled open an eye, hope filling her chest…

Then she processed what she was seeing, and her shoulders slumped.

"You actually thought you had me for a moment there, didn't you?"

Nightmare Mist twinkled in the dim luminescence of the streetlights.

It floated in front of the car, where it had formed a barrier that the car had smashed itself into.

Nightmare Moon flicked her fingers, and her mist wrapped around the car, flinging it up and through the air. It collided with the side of a building, and the sound of metal crumpling and concrete breaking rang out. Nightmare Moon did not so much as turn to look at the destruction she had casually wrought, even as the car fell noisily down to the ground.

"I am queen over all that is night." Nightmare Moon loomed tall in the air, staring down Twilight. "To me, the mind is a secret that is revealed with every passing dream."

"You have as much hope of controlling me as you do lifting a mountain."

Twilight's breath hitched in her throat.

"Now then…" Nightmare Moon's eyes bored into Twilight's. "Shields. Lances of magic. Breathing life into the inanimate. Controlling the attention of others. These are all spells that are used for _combat_. So why would a student of my sister know them?"

Rainbow's magic was designed for altering the weather. Rarity's, for the creation of clothing. Even what little magic Fluttershy had was intended solely for calming animals. Any combat potential they may have had was unintentional.

Twilight was the only one of the group who knew spells _designed_ for battle.

The building Nightmare Moon had flung a car into let out a -crack-, as a sizable chunk of wall broke off and fell down to street level with a deep -thud-.

Nightmare Moon's intense gaze vanished, replaced with her arrogant smirk. "Well, it doesn't matter." She held out her hand, and Nightmare Mist pulled itself into a ball, floating above her palm. "I will end your life either way."

Twilight inhaled sharply, steeling herself for Nightmare Moon's counter-attack. Mana pooled under her fingertips, waiting to be used at the slightest twitch.

She didn't really have a plan B. If Want It Need It couldn't get her to drop her Nightmare Mist, she didn't know how she could do more than inconvenience Nightmare Moon. But she _had_ to defeat her. There was no one else who could –

{Hey!}

The unexpected shout startled Twilight, and caused the corner of Nightmare Moon's mouth to twitch.

{Are you girls _crazy_?! People live in these dorms! Aw man, aw man! I don't know how, but I just know that I'm gonna be held responsible for this! Go have your fight somewhere else, you crazy esper girls!}

A human head, covered in spiky black hair, poked out from the destroyed wall.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle was a unicorn, and had just come to Ponyville from Canterlot. She had vast magical talent, and was the personal student of Princess Celestia.

_ _ was a _, and had just come to _ from _. She had vast magical talent, and was the personal _ of _ _.

Twilight Sparkle was a magician, and had just come to Humansville from elsewhere. She had vast magical talent, and was the personal project of Princess Celestia.

* * *

Of the girls who had been present when Nightmare Moon had first entered Academy City, half of them had felt pretty useless. Saten, Fluttershy and Applejack all lacked any sort of ability that would let them influence the short and nasty fight that had occurred in that park.

In contrast, and perhaps counterintuitively, Rarity felt even worse. She actually _was_ a proper Magician, unlike Fluttershy who only knew one spell, or Applejack who didn't know any, or Saten who never _could_ learn any.

That, in part, was why she had so readily decided to face Nightmare Moon on her own. Well, that, and one thing she had noticed that she was sure no-one else had.

She always did pride herself on her eye for detail.

Anyhow, she had now found what she was looking for. Luckily, Nightmare Moon had just followed the road, moving in the same direction as she had exited the park from. Heading in the same direction had naturally brought Rarity to the same bridge as Nightmare Moon.

Said woman was standing atop the steel support beams that held the concrete road suspended over water. Rarity was beginning to suspect that magicians who flew naturally gravitated to high places – goodness knows Rainbow Dash did it often enough.

Still. Mustn't forget her manners. Rarity stopped before Nightmare Moon, performing her best curtsey.

Nightmare Moon paid no heed. Indeed, she might not have even know she was there. Her eyes were closed, her face deep in concentration.

Rarity waited for Nightmare Moon to acknowledge her existence. When a minute had passed, she coughed as politely as she could. Still, Nightmare Moon ignored her.

Well, if she _had_ to take the initiative…

"That was a rather cruel trick you played."

Nightmare Moon turned her body to face Rarity, and opened her eyes to stare down at her. Rarity waited for her to say something, but Nightmare Moon just stared unnervingly into her eyes.

"In the park, I mean." Rarity clarified. "When you made it look like you had made copies of yourself."

"You think that was a trick?" Nightmare Moon finally spoke. Faint undertones of disbelief could be heard in her voice.

Rarity started twirling one of her purple curls around her fingers. "Of course. It was rather obvious, actually. You see, I have a professional interest in clothing, magical or not."

Magic was a discipline in which symbolism held ultimate power. Clothing, warn by all humankind since Adam and Eve, was one of the easiest and most powerful symbols you could exploit. It also held a surprising subtlety and complexity to it, which only an expert could be expected to notice.

"Which means," Rarity continued. "that I noticed the stitching in that gown of yours right away."

Nightmare Moon glanced down at herself. It was true that, under her armour, she was wearing a long black dress; but it had been made by a skilled craftsman. She could barely see the stitching in her outfit, and she was the one wearing it.

"You see, darling, your dress is exactly the same as the one worn by the first Nightmare Moon. The one who chased us here through that dreadful hole in the ground."

"Is that really so noteworthy?" Nightmare Moon said.

"Well, yes." Rarity replied. "Considering that that wasn't the case for any of the other 'copies', I'd say that was quite important."

Silence, banished briefly by the exchange, returned. Nightmare Moon's eyes hardened.

"Those summons of yours don't have a form beyond what you given them… so all you did was give them your own form. A little pizzazz to impress and dazzle, and the trick is complete."

Only one 'Nightmare Moon' had had the same dress of the original, because only one of them _was_ the original. The rest were merely Shadowbolts, taking the rough shape of their creator. By dividing the Nightmare Mist between them, the illusion was complete – everyone had been fooled into thinking Nightmare Moon could clone herself.

Everyone, that was, except Rarity.

Nightmare Moon inhaled, and exhaled loudly. "I meant what I said in the park."

"Hm?" Rarity cocked her head to the side.

"I really don't have time to waste with small-fry." Nightmare Moon smirked once again, crossing her arms across her chest. Behind her, Nightmare Mist gathered. "So I'll make this quick."

"How kind of you." Rarity straightened up, arms extended either side of her. Both could feel Mana flowing through the body of the other. "But, I would like to make something quite clear."

"Oh?" A hint of interest could be heard in the otherwise uncaring voice of Nightmare Moon.

"I deduced the others were fakes because I noticed that you were real. Did you really think I approached you just to die?" Rarity's voice had lost the polite respect she had been speaking with until now, and had taken on a coy tone.

"Incidentally," Rarity's mouth formed into a smirk of her own. "Thank you for crossing your arms, dear."

"What?" Nightmare Moon's smirk turned to a frown. She tried to uncross her arms, but her sleeves were unexpectedly tight, and stuck to her torso.

"It's a bit of a rush job." Rarity didn't sound apologetic at all. "But any idiot can tell that I've just turned your dress into a straitjacket."

Most magicians had a gimmick. Rarity was quite proud that her gimmick had a gimmick. Her magic revolved around clothing, that is true. But Rarity had mixed in a spell from outside her chosen field.

One that let her work her magic _at range_.

Nightmare Moon let out an unladylike grunt, her arms straining against the cloth binding them.

"Don't bother, dear." Rarity began to walk forward. "It's your own magic powering that dress, so it's your own magic holding you in place. What musculature you have cannot overpower your own mystical might."

Magic was based on symbolism. A straitjacket was an item used on madmen, to prevent them hurting themselves or others. And with Nightmare Moon's magic involuntarily flowing through it, that was exactly what it was going to do. Nightmare Moon's offensive abilities were sealed.

"Why else would I seek out the real you, unless I had a way to - "

-Rip-

Rarity's speech and stride both halted immediently.

-Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip-

Nightmare Moon held up both her arms. Her sleeves had long gashes down the sides where the stitching holding them tight to the torso of the dress had been broken.

"I really liked this dress."

Rarity took a step back. "But… but!"

"Now, girl." Nightmare Moon's fangs were on full display again. " _Where did you get this idea that my dress was magical?_ "

What?

But… her armour was just plain plate armour. It might help her cast knight spells, but Rarity hadn't seen her cast a single one of those. Her hair was a product of her magic, not a focus. That had left the dress as the only magical item Nightmare Moon could be using.

Magic was based on symbolism. This was the most fundamental basis of magic – Idol Theory. It allowed a magician to use the power of an entity by possessing an image of that entity. Casting the world into darkness would require great power, which would require a grand symbol to access that power.

Unless…

A thought passed through Rarity's head. It was impossible. Completely unthinkable. But if she _wasn't_ using the strength of another, then that could only mean…

"No…" Rarity whispered. "Don't tell me… you reached that ridiculous level of power _all on your own_?"

"Of course I did." Nightmare Moon said. "I wouldn't have any right to call myself queen, otherwise."

Rarity's feet move backwards another step.

"You have greatly aggravated me, girl." Nightmare Mist spread out to cover both ends of the bridge, cutting off Rarity's escape.

"Die."

* * *

Rarity was a unicorn who loved fashion so much she opened her own boutique. She was especially skilled at using her magic to sow the clothes together.

_ was a _ who loved fashion so much she _. She was especially skilled at _ her magic _ clothes _.

Rarity was a magician who loved fashion so much she based her magic around it. She was especially skilled at infusing her magic into the clothes she made.

* * *

Rainbow Dash struggled as oversized metal arms wrapped around her chest and face.

Fluttershy backed away from the nun with a cloth-knife.

Pinkie Pie was in a laughing mood, but her opponent was deadly serious.

Applejack found herself facing down the ancient, world-ending threat alone.

Misaka was out for blood.

Twilight and Nightmare Moon stared incredulously as a Japanese youth yelled down at them angrily, completely in the dark as to who he was shouting at.

Rarity was beginning to grasp just how in over her head she was.

The Sun had been missing for fifteen minutes.

There was no time to lose.

The cold grew stronger with each second.


	5. Gather the girls together

{…so that's what happened.}

{Yeah, it was like you were a puppet dancing for her amusement!}

{It sounds like she was setting up some kind of rapid hypnosis using the water as stimulus…}

{Huh? Sissy, hypnotism doesn't work like that!}

It was true that hypnotism made one more likely to follow suggestions, but there was a big gap between that and firing deadly attacks at your friends.

{…and yet, at the time, I remember…}

{?}

{Nevermind. So, what happened next?}

{Then the girl with the pink stripe in her hair OHKO'd you!}

{Oh, so she's the one I need to go fry.}

{Sissy, could this wait until _after_ the thing with the sun?}

{I dunno. The planet won't mind if I spend a few minutes on a side-quest, right?}

{Please don't make me play the straight man, Sissy.}

Kuroko could move 80 meters in one teleport, which took her one second to perform. Averaged out, that gave her a maximum speed of about 288km/h. (To the American girls, that would be 179 mph.) Even though she was carrying Misaka along with her, Kuroko had no trouble zooming through the skyline of Academy City at speeds even a car couldn't match.

(So, yes, they were having to shout a bit to hear each other in those second-long increments of falling.)

With Kuroko's arms wrapped tightly around her middle – and keeping a suspicious eye on them to make sure that was where they stayed – Misaka pulled her flip phone out of her pocket. Kuroko made a face at it's appearance – the overly cutesy cover was a constant reminder of how unrefined her Sissy could be.

She deposited the two of them on the roof of a nearby skyscraper. Unlike Kuroko, Misaka didn't have a headset that let her hold a phone conversation over the high-speed wind.

Misaka flipped her phone open. {Uiharu, any luck? …fine, but please hurry.}

Kuroko glanced up at the sky. The sun was still nowhere to be seen. Kuroko was not easily worried, but the absence of such a fundamental fact as sunlight had her biting her bottom lip.

Misaka ended her call, flipping her phone closed again. {Uiharu lost her.} She frowned. {She said she'll call us back when she's found her again.}

Kuroko's eyes flicked back down to Misaka. Her eyebrows slowly drew together, and her mouth opened in an uncertain 'o'.

Misaka turned around to talk to her roommate, but stopped when she saw her face. {What?}

Kuroko closed her eyes and nervously rubbed the back of her neck. {Ah ha… I did mention she duplicated herself, right?}

Misaka's mouth worked up and down as she tried and failed to find words. Eventually, she managed a flat {What?}

Kuroko started twirling her two index fingers around each other, eyes on her shoes. {Well, between you being out, and the sun being gone, I kinda forgot to mention it – }

Misaka groaned into her hands. {Fine! So she can make decoys. We already knew she was a trick existence anyway. She must have some kind of gimmick to split her attention between them, unless they added another Level 5 when I wasn't paying attention.}

Kuroko froze, a terrible thought occurring to her. {Are we sure she isn't? A Level 5, I mean.}

Misaka hesitated. As much as she'd liked to have immediately shot down the idea, the only other Level 5 she'd ever actually met was Misaki, the #5. She didn't know what the others looked like, or even how old they were.

Eventually though, she shook her head. {I may not know what the other Level 5's look like, but I do know what their powers are. None of us control particle clouds.}

{Not even the #6? Are you – wait. 'Particle clouds'? I thought she controlled mist?}

{Did you forget those smoke creatures she sicced on me? Even after I microwaved them, that old hag could keep them moving.}

Kuroko's eyes lit up in realisation. It was true that some kinds of smoke were partially made of water, but Misaka's microwaves would have vaporised all the water in that smoke. If that had been her only point of control, Nightmare Moon would have been unable to control her 'Shadowbolts' beyond that point. Then she frowned. {That doesn't explain her making the sun vanish, though.}

Kuroko had briefly entertained the idea that Nightmare Moon had somehow put them all to sleep until the next sundown, but Uiharu's outsider perspective had disproven that pretty quick.

{Doesn't it?} Misaka pointed up. {Don't forget – we don't know the sun is _gone_ , we just can't see it right now. Isn't it more probable that she's just _hiding_ the sun?}

There was a well-know theory which said that long ago, an enormous asteroid had collided with the Earth. Huge clouds of dust would have been kicked up into the atmosphere, hiding the sun from view. According to that theory, it was this massive disruption of sunlight that caused a mass extinction event and wiped out the dinosaurs.

Huge clouds of dust. And they were fighting someone who could control such things. Kuroko saw Misaka's logic in one terrifying moment of clarity.

…but while that was definitely less ridiculous than extinguishing a G-type main-sequence star with a snap of the fingers, one person covering the sky in dust clouds was still well into the realm of the absurd.

{Wait.} Kuroko looked up at the sky again. {Sissy, I can still see the stars.}

{You mean like the 'stars' in that ridiculous 'Nightmare Mist' of hers?}

Had Nightmare Moon extinguished the sun and plunged the world into Eternal Night, or had she 'merely' put a barrier of night in front of the sun? The moon wouldn't be visible either way, with no sunlight to reflect.

Still, the word 'extinction' reverberated inside Kuroko's mind. She wondered what the upper levels of Academy City were doing right now – was there a plan in the works somewhere to independently bring back the day? Some backup plan to continue without sunlight? Or were the grown-ups just in a blind panic right now?

{Assuming all of this is true,} Kuroko said {I'm not sure why we're trying so hard to chase what we think is a puppet that woman created.}

{Even if she has perfect control over them, she still needs to see what she's doing. She must have a way of seeing what her puppets see – like a camera. You find that, and I'll track it back to the real person. Then, we just go and pry her hands off the doomsday clock.}

Any esper capable of filling the atmosphere with dust would be capable of cleaning it again. That said…

{I don't think that someone who kicked off an extinction event is likely to listen to reason.} Or value their own life, Kuroko didn't say. To someone who had condemned the world to a slow, cold death, mere pain might not be enough to force them to act.

Misaka clicked her tongue. {If I it comes to that, I'll just have to owe the #5 a favour. I doubt that top-heavy girl wants to freeze either.}

 _Wait, are things really heading in that direction? But if Sissy owes that kind of favour to another girl, who knows what kind of depraved things she might be forced into! No! I won't allow it! Sissy can only do those sorts of things with me!_

{I get the feeling something really dirty just passed through your head, so how about I take out a little preemptive punishment?}

Kuroko was spared from being fried black by the ringing of Misaka's mobile. Still glaring at her perverted roommate, Misaka answered the call. {Uiharu? …got it. We'll be right there.}

She ended the call. {Uiharu found her… or, apparently, 'one' of her. She's by that old iron bridge in District 7.}

Kuroko's head full of steam deflated, the seriousness of the situation forcing her daydreams to the side.

{Remember.} Misaka said, steeling herself for another flight with Kuroko. {I'll distract her, you find out how she's observing her puppet, and we trace it back to her.}

It was a good plan. It was logical, and it's scientific basis was sound.

It was a pity they were dealing with the ridiculous power called magic, which enjoyed spitting in the face of such things.

* * *

"S-stab me?!" Fluttershy's voice screeched out.

"Of course." Index looked confused that Fluttershy was even asking. "I can't just go around trusting strange magicians."

"But –" Fluttershy was literally scrambling for words "– but I wouldn't hurt you!"

"But would you say the same thing if you knew who I was?" Index smiled. It was not a happy smile. "I'm not the sort of person who can grant the benefit of the doubt to anyone from the Magic Side."

W-what?

That…

Something clicked in Fluttershy's head.

That was so _sad_.

"Anyway, it's true that in the Brothers Grimm version of Sleeping Beauty, the princess was in danger from a spinning needle. But the story _they_ heard was originally published by a French author, who based it on the works of an Italian poet. And in _that_ story, the princess was actually under threat from a splinter of flax. Linen, of course, is made from flax –!br0ken!

Index's show with the pointed cloth, Fluttershy realised, was actually very familiar. She'd seen it over and over again, back home. The first time she'd met Harry the Bear, he'd growled at her and bared his teeth. Fluttershy was no match for a fully grown Brown Bear, but Harry hadn't been _certain_ that she wasn't going to hurt him (she had been trying to treat his broken paw). That uncertainty had turned to fear. And that fear had led Harry to try and scare off someone who didn't mean him any harm.

In Fluttershy's head, Index's lecture was starting to blur into unintelligible growling. Her white habit was overladen with bear fur. The knife in her hand was just her outstretched claw.

"– you really shouldn't have copied the legend completely, that – are you listening to me?"

Fluttershy abruptly stopped edging backwards, and pitched forwards instead. Index had been gesturing off to one side with the hand holding the knife, and so was caught off guard (she had been watching for Mana activity, not physical movement). Index frantically tried to move her cloth-knife in-between her and Fluttershy.

She was too slow. Off-balance, Index felt the other girls arms wrap strongly around her torso, pinning her arms in place. Index immediately began to struggle. No, no no! She had been careless! She had been caught off-guard by this weak-seeming opponent, and now she was… huh?

She was… being hugged tightly?

"It's okay."

Fluttershy, the girl who had been sitting terrified and alone in the park just moments ago, was holding the smaller girl tightly, speaking soothing words into her ear.

"It's okay." She repeated. "I'm not going to hurt you. You were just scared, weren't you? Just like I was. But it's okay. You don't have to be afraid of me."

"Get off me."

"Not until you relax."

Index was in the highly unusual position of being annoyed that somebody _wasn't_ trying to hurt her.

The nun moved her head around Fluttershy's so that her head wasn't touching the other girl's. "I can still stab you."

"That's true." Fluttershy admitted, softly. "But I don't think you will."

Index rolled her eyes. "I'm not a stray cat you just picked off the street, you know."

"I know."

"I'm not going to suddenly be your friend just because you hugged me. I don't have the luxury of being that trusting."

"Because of who you are? But you aren't anyone to me."

Index sighed. For a moment, she allowed herself to enjoy the embrace. She couldn't remember ever being held like this before.

Then she stiffened. "Let go of me, right now."

"No." Fluttershy frowned. Neither girl was particularly strong, but Fluttershy had more years of growth on her, so Index wouldn't be breaking out of the hug anytime soon.

"If you don't want to be dragged down into hell," Fluttershy started at the strong language "you will let go of me _right now_."

"What _is_ going on here?"

Fluttershy tried to swallow, but found herself unable to. Her throat had tightened up. She turned her head toward the voice that had just spoken. Her pupils dilated.

Nightmare Moon was slowly floating back into the park.

It was actually a Shadowbolt pretending to be its master, but Fluttershy did not know that. Even if she had, she would be no more suited to fighting it – not with the cloud of Nightmare Mist following it.

"Who is this?" Nightmare Moon cooed. "I don't believe we have met."

Index stared intently at Nightmare Moon over Fluttershy's shoulder. "You are not using Idol Theory."

Nightmare Moon blinked at the non sequitur. "My, aren't you perceptive."

Index's eyelids were opening and closing like the shutters of a camera, her pupils quickly and thoroughly tracing over Nightmare Moon's outline. "That kind of magic hasn't been used since the end of the Arthurian era."

"Hah." Nightmare Moon smiled. "So I _did_ outlive those fools after all."

Index looked up into the eyes of Nightmare Moon. "You are the one who removed the sun from the sky."

"I am."

"You know that by doing this, you will be inviting the whole world to destroy you?"

"Let them try, in what precious hours they have left."

Index's eyes narrowed. "Let go of me, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy let go. Index stepped around her so she could face Nightmare Moon unobstructed.

Index opened her mouth, ready to continue talking, but surprise forced it closed again. Her eyes widened, then narrowed. "Fluttershy, get out of my way."

"I can't." Fluttershy said quietly. She had moved back between Index and Nightmare Moon. "She'll hurt you."

"Little girl." Nightmare Moon said. "Are you the one who returned the sun to the sky?"

Index's eyes jumped between Fluttershy and Nightmare Moon. She wanted to tell Fluttershy that she was more worried about being captured than she was of being hurt. She wanted to demand this new magician explain what she meant. 'Returned the sun to the sky'? How could someone have returned the sun to a sky it was still missing from?

The trouble is, she couldn't do both at once.

"Time's up, little girl." Nightmare Mist spread out through the park, completely enclosing it. There was nowhere for Index or Fluttershy to run now.

Fluttershy stepped forwards, once again wrapping her arms tightly around Index. It wasn't much, but she was going to give Index as much protection as her body could provide.

Index sighed.

Then, as the Nightmare Mist flew in towards then, she stabbed Fluttershy.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rarity was busy jumping off a bridge.

Nightmare Moon let out a wordless yell of anger. Really, she should have seen this coming. By sealing off both ends of the bridge, the only place for her target to run had been off the bridge and into the water.

Funnily enough, the last thought through Rarity's head as she plunged into the water was: _And I had my hair done up just right for this morning, too!_

-Splash!-

Opening her eyes, Rarity squinted through the river-water. Unfortunately, she couldn't see a thing – no light, natural or artificial, was illuminating the river.

Also unfortunately, she wasn't the sort of magician who could keep her head underwater forever.

As gracefully as she could manage, Rarity spread her arms and legs and swam upwards. Her head broke the surface, and she spat out the mouthful of water that had gotten in. Her hair now wet and stuck to her head, Rarity glared up at Nightmare Moon. "Just so you know, that dress clashes horribly with that armour of yours!"

Nightmare Mist surged out from the ends of the bridge and down towards Rarity.

Rarity managed a strangled "Eep!" Ducking her head down, she kicked out with the current. The Nightmare Mist missed her by a hair's breadth, instead entering the river's surface without so much as a ripple.

Rarity was at a serious disadvantage. She couldn't block the Nightmare Mist, and her mobility was severely restricted in the water.

Desperately, she thrust her right hand upwards, casting the simplest attack spell she could think off. Nightmare Moon's dress rustled as the fabric rewove itself to constrict her legs. But rather than fall over as Rarity had hoped, Nightmare Moon floated off the ground, her legs stuck together. The way she didn't react, taking it in her stride, made it feel as though she had planned to do that from the beginning.

Rarity hated her for it.

Nightmare Moon gestured down at Rarity with her hand, and Rarity spotted lights shining faintly under the surface. The Nightmare Mist, though diluted through the body of the river, was coming around for another attack. Rarity could see that she wouldn't be able to dodge to the side this time.

Still, she had one other option. She hadn't dressed for a swim (obviously), as so was wearing the entirely wrong clothing for this sort of thing. Specifically, her dress grew heavy when it got wet.

So she pinched her nose shut, gave her clothing a little magical assistance, and sunk like a stone.

The cold water pressed in around her. She couldn't have moved more than a few yards (or metres) underwater, but all light had been completely suppressed. Her eyes were closed, but she still felt the Nightmare Mist pass closely overhead.

 _Right._ She thought, a plan being frantically thrown together in her head. _Now if I swim to the side a bit, hopefully she won't notice if I –_

A rumbling noise reverberated throughout the entire river, booming loud and deep in Rarity's ears. The pressure of the water overhead felt like it was lifting – but at the same time it felt like she herself was falling. Her legs, previously floating in the water, suddenly had solid ground under them again. The acoustics of the liquid environment were suddenly removed, her hearing returning to normal.

Rarity opened her eyes.

It was a scene straight out of the Old Testament.

The river had parted. A huge vortex of water spun around Rarity, who was now standing on the riverbed. At the edges of this impossible phenomenon Nightmare Mist swirled, forming a barrier that separated water and air. High above, Nightmare Moon floated. She stared directly at Rarity, who had nowhere to run to or hide now.

Rarity's mouth opened and closed.

"Ah." She said.

Nightmare Moon brought her hand up, fingers ready to snap –

In the span between one eye-blink and the next, a flowing orange line traced itself through space, neatly intersecting Nightmare Moon's torso.

 **-BOOM!-**

The sound, as much as anything else, seemed to blow clean though the sorceress's chest. Like a pencil stabbed through a piece of paper, Nightmare Moon's bosom was blown out forwards, a gaping hole torn in her body.

Amazingly, Nightmare Moon merely growled. The edges of her wound were not bloody, they were blurry – after all, they were made of mist. Mist which was quickly pulling itself back into shape.

 **-BOOM!-**

"Hi there~!" Misaka Mikoto sang, having just launched a second of her namesake railguns through Nightmare Moon. She was standing next to the railing of the bridge both Rarity and Nightmare Moon had originally been standing on. In one hand, she tossed a group of small metal coins up and down.

"You –!" Nightmare Moon gasped, her partially-regenerated chest blown apart again.

"Me." Misaka confirmed. "Could you do me a favour and stop regenerating? The arcade gets annoyed with me if I swipe too many of their tokens."

"I will not –!"

 **-BOOM!-**

The cloud of mist that was Nightmare Moon gave up on completely regenerating, and just floated in the air in a vaguely humanoid shape. The Nightmare Mist surrounding Rarity abandoned its duty to attend its mistress's side, causing Rarity to panic just a tad as the water rushed back to where she stood with force.

Nightmare Moon's voice boomed out from her cloud-form, 'speaking' even though she lacked a solid mouth. "Did you miss being under my control so badly that you would embrace it again?"

 **-BOOM!-** **-BOOM!-** **-BOOM!-**

One did not become the most powerful Electromaster in the world without learning something of electromagnetism. Long ago, Misaka had learned how to use her electrical powers to create powerful magnetic fields. Fields like, say, the ones found in the high-tech battleship weapon called a railgun.

In turn, each of the three arcade tokens passed through Nightmare Moon at three times the speed of sound. The fiction of the token against the air superheated that air into plasma as it moved, creating the glowing orange 'beam' that characterised Misaka's railgun attack.

"Just try it." Misaka snarled. "Oh, and by the way? Don't think I've forgotten about _this_."

She raised her right hand to point its palm at Nightmare Moon. Just in time, the Nightmare Mist flew in-front of its mistress, intercepting the invisible microwaves Misaka fired at her. Misaka's eyes narrowed, and sparks jumped between her fingers as she increased the power of her attack.

Rarity's head resurfaced, and she took a great big gulp of air. Lifting a hand out of the river, she wiped the water out of her eyes. She let out a cry of surprise as, several yards (metres!) away, a spot on the river starting spouting a great torrent of water up into the air. That water turned into mist as it rose, and then to Nightmare Mist, and flew to replace the mist the mist Misaka was vaporising. The two torrents – one of invisible energy, one of magical water – continued to annihilate each other, balanced for the moment. The hiss and the heat of steam permeated the area.

Hearing a -splash- behind her, Rarity spun around. Kuroko had dropped down into the water behind her. (Most likely, she had teleported to just above the surface and let herself fall.)

"Come on!" Kuroko cried. She reached out a hand towards Rarity, who blinked and took it. Rarity had experienced Kuroko's Ability already when she had been teleported out of the sewer, but the pressure of the water suddenly disappearing around her was a new sensation. Kuroko disappeared again, leaving Rarity to drip-dry about halfway down the bridge from where Misaka was.

Now protected by an upside-down waterfall of mist, Nightmare Moon completely reformed into a solid body. She made a gesture towards Misaka, but her face twisted in confusion and anger when nothing happened.

Misaka picked up on it immediently. "I bet you're wondering right now why I'm not dancing on your strings again, aren't you?"

" _How?_ " The Tantabus was inside her head right this moment, Nightmare Moon was sure of it!

"You try, but you're nowhere near as good at mind control as the other queen I know. Kuroko explained to me what I missed. She said I was blasting at enemies that weren't there. That's funny – I remember enemies being there, but when I look back now the details are all fuzzy. It's almost like that part of the fight was a dream."

"YOU –"

"I don't know how you did it through my electro-barrier, but you put me to sleep, didn't you? That's what you meant about 'dealing with your Tantabus'. You put me to sleep and somehow controlled my dreams, inducing something like sleepwalking. But what if I couldn't fall asleep?"

The first sign that a human was waking up was increased electrical activity in the brain, starting in the Thalamus and spreading outwards. Theoretically, if one could control their own brain's electrical activity, then they could _force_ themselves to stay awake.

"My electro-barrier already works by amping up the electrical power of my neurons, so it's not that big a jump to continuously stimulate 'waking up'. There's a risk I'll burn out my nerves or put myself in a coma, but if I did I wouldn't have any right to call myself the #3."

What Misaka was doing was analogous to preventing a computer from shutting down by attaching jumper cables to the CPU. It was ridiculously dangerous – the slightest hint of a mistake would fry the entire motherboard – and to work, it required ludicrous amounts of delicacy and precision.

Misaka did it without thinking. That was the kind of monster a Level 5 esper was.

Nightmare Moon scowled. This _girl_ was looking down on her. Her! The Queen of Eternal Night! She would regret that, Nightmare Moon decided, even as the Nightmare Mist and Misaka's microwaves continued their battle for dominance.

She was suitably surprised when Kuroko teleported onto her shoulders. Nightmare Moon fell slightly to the side at the unexpected weight, before her flight smoothed out. Kuroko used those seconds to run her hands through Nightmare Moon's flowing hair, scowling as they came up empty. She teleported out again as Nightmare Moon reached around in an attempt to grab her.

Rarity patted herself down. She knew she had – ah ha! She reached into an inside pocket and pulled out a small, but nonetheless flawless gemstone. For a moment, she allowed herself a longing, regretful look at the brilliant blue gem. Then she sighed, hardened her expression, and hurled it at Nightmare Moon as hard as she could manage.

Nightmare Moon didn't even notice the attempt; the Nightmare Mist automatically intercepted the projectile, stopping it in midair and breaking it apart into powder.

At the same time, Kuroko reappeared below Nightmare Moon. She materialised reaching upwards, grabbing onto Nightmare Moon's ankles with one hand. Even as Nightmare Moon swiped an arm down at her unwanted passenger, Kuroko reached up and teleported Nightmare Moon's dress off.

A scream, equal parts surprise and fury, echoed out over the river. The three girls watching only received a brief glimpse of Nightmare Moon's underclothes before she dissolved into mist again. Kuroko yelped as the Nightmare Mist that used to be a leg flowed out and enveloped her hand.

The mist swung around, releasing Kuroko so as to fling her at the bridge. Misaka panicked slightly as Kuroko flew towards the field of deadly microwaves, but Kuroko vanished in another teleport. She reappeared crouching next to Misaka.

"Sorry, Sissy." Kuroko panted. "No luck. I couldn't see anything that looked like a sensor."

"Be more careful, you idiot!" Misaka turned to glare at Kuroko. "Finding the puppet-master is pointless if it gets you killed!"

"Oh, are you looking for a puppet-master?" Nightmare Moon growled. " _You found one._ "

Misaka's eyes snapped back to Nightmare Moon. "You, shut up."

"Don't you dare hurt my Sissy!" Kuroko cried, pulling several nails out from where they were strapped to her thighs.

Misaka blinked. That was a weird thing for Kuroko to say right –

Then she screamed in pain, as several metal nails suddenly appeared inside her arms and legs. She pitched backwards onto the sidewalk, landing painfully on the concrete.

Kuroko's eyes were completely glazed over, staring at a point slightly above where Misaka's head would have been if she were still standing.

Misaka's torrent of microwaves had been cut off at the source, and so the torrent of Nightmare Mist slowed and stopped as well. A tendril of mist whipped through the air and threaded itself through Nightmare Moon's discarded dress, still floating down. The vague outline of Nightmare Moon consolidated until she became a normal-looking person person once more, dress in place.

"Finish her." She commanded, floating away from the bridge with her engorged cloud of Nightmare Mist. "She has wasted enough of my time tonight."

Kuroko reached down to retrieve more of her nails. For a startled moment, Misaka stood in absolute shook. Even if her brain wasn't still trying to process the sudden turn of events, she had no means of blocking Kuroko's teleportation attack. For one terrifying moment, Misaka started up at Kuroko, not knowing if she would survive the next few seconds.

Her fear ablated somewhat when Kuroko tugged fruitlessly at her skirt, unable to lift underneath it. It had somehow become sewn onto the belts underneath.

Kuroko made to step forward, but threads extended out from both her socks and into the other respective sock. The threads drew tight with a -snap-, effectively tying her socks together and pulling her feet in. She pitched forward, slamming into the ground head-first.

"Please, dear." Rarity stepped forward, wringing water from her hair. "Do take care you don't forget that I'm here."

Kuroko growled something unintelligible. Her fingers brushed against her skirt, and it disappeared, reappearing next to her. Left behind, her remaining nails clattered to the ground. She reached for them –

– and Misaka grunted, managing to reach out with her foot to touch Kuroko. The smell of ozone filled the air as Kuroko spasmed, high-voltage current spreading throughout her body, then she lay still.

"Don't show your panties in public." Misaka gasped, as blood started seeping into her uniform. "Pervert."

"Don't move." Rarity dashed forward, giving her dress only a brief distressed look before starting to tear strips off the bottom of it.

As Rarity leaned over her, cloth strips in hand, Misaka winced in pain. Moving her leg had been like being stabbed anew in the places where Kuroko's nails had displaced the existing flesh. "Can I borrow one of those strips, please?"

"Of course, but why do you – _what are you doing?!_ "

Misaka had gingerly placed the strip in her mouth and bitten down hard. Her cries of pain where therefore suitably muffled as she called on her Ability and pulled each of the nails in her body out.

Rarity made a strangled noise, before frantically bandaging the injuries, which had started bleeding much more heavily. "Those nails were plugging your wounds!"

"Yeah," Misaka agreed, wincing as Rarity tied one bandage particularly tightly. "but there was no way I was moving around with those still in me."

"You are _far_ too injured to keep going."

Misaka said nothing else until Rarity was done tying. Then, she tried her best to rest back onto the ground without making any pain-provoking movements. She turned her head to look at her roommate. "Stupid Kuroko. You weren't supposed to be seen."

"Well, no point worrying about it now."

Misaka sighed.

Bracing herself, she stood up, despite Rarity's cry of "I said don't move!". It hurt, but she could do it, so her muscles still worked in a broad sense.

"I'm calling an ambulance for both of you, right now." Rarity said, frantically fumbling a smartphone out of a dress pocket.

"Don't have time." Misaka gasped. "However that woman has blocked the sunlight, it needs to be fixed quickly, and she's too powerful to leave to Judgement and Anti-Skill."

"You think she's _blocking_ …? Nevermind." Rarity opened the call app on her phone, only to stare in dismay when she realised that she didn't know the number for Academy City's emergency services. "I mean what I said. Letting you continue on now would be manslaughter! Please, be _rational_!"

"Rational…? Okay." Misaka started staggering to one end of the bridge, past Rarity. "Can you block her dream-control?"

"No, but –"

"Can you get past her mist-barrier?"

"Darling, _please_ –"

"She needs to be stopped." Misaka halted, having drawn even with Rarity. She was still focused on the other end of the bridge, but Rarity was certain she was being watched out of the corner of the other girl's eye. "You can't stop her. I can."

"You don't have to fight her _alone_."

Misaka actually turned her head, looking Rarity in the eye. Then her gaze moved down, and following her eyes Rarity saw Kuroko, lying unconscious on the pavement.

"Actually," Misaka said. "I do."

She extended out one arm, and sparks jumped between her fingers. Kuroko's earpiece phone pulled itself off it's owner's ear before flying through the air into Misaka's hand.

Then, she extended out her other arm. Her entire body lifted off the ground and zoomed off into the air, seeming to be dragged by her arm. She must have been using her powers to magnetically pull herself toward metal elsewhere in the city. Within moments, she was gone, leaving Rarity alone on the bridge with Kuroko.

"Yes." Rarity seethed. "Because that worked _so_ well when I tried it."

"Sissy?"

Rarity started, before turning and kneeling next to the source of the weak voice that had just spoken. "Are you alright?"

"Sissy?" Kuroko groaned again, her voice a little stronger. "…what happened?"

"Now, it wasn't your fault." Rarity said, a little too quickly.

"…the way you say that makes me think it _was_ my fault."

Rarity cringed as Kuroko sat up. Fortunately, Kuroko had only been stunned and was unhurt, even though her skirt was lying on the ground next to her and her socks had been stitched together.

"Where's Sissy?" Kuroko asked. Rarity didn't know if Kuroko just wasn't feeling the cold of sitting on cold concrete with only her underwear to insulate her hindquarters, or if she was just ignoring it.

"She's… gone off on her own." Rarity hedged.

Kuroko groaned. "Sissy…" She lifted a hand to her ear, only to draw it back suddenly. "My phone is gone."

"Yes, she took that with her." Rarity discreetly used her magic to undo the stitching tying Kuroko's socks together.

"Great." Kuroko gingerly got to her feet. "So we can't follow her."

Rarity stared at Kuroko, who seemed to have finally realised that she was missing her skirt. (Still, she didn't seem that bothered as she went to got put it back on.) Kuroko's face was conveying dismay, outrage, resignation, and another half-dozen subtle emotions that shifted rapidly across her features. It was plain to Rarity that Kuroko didn't want to let Misaka go off on her own, but she didn't think she could stop her.

Misaka had deliberately left them behind. Kuroko wanted to help, but Misaka didn't want her to try. Rarity bit her bottom lip as she weighed up the dilemma.

Well, actually the solution was easy. After all, she wanted to help as well.

"Well, that's not quite true." Kuroko's head snapped up to stare at Rarity. "We can't follow _her_ , but I _can_ track her target."

"You can?! How?!"

"Did you know that if you crush it finely enough, you can dissolve a gemstone in water?"

* * *

Fluttershy slowly blinked awake. "Eh?"

It was so cold, and her bed felt so hard, and why was everything wet?

…

A spark of realisation jumped through her brain, and she sat up frantically.

In doing so, her forehead collided with Index's, who had been kneeling down, leaning over her. -Bonk!-

Both girls cried out in pain, clutching their heads. Fluttershy squinted, but the smell of blood filled her nostrils and her eyes opened wide despite how much it hurt to do so. She let out a shriek.

"Shush!" Index shushed her. "That magician might hear you!"

"But but but!" Fluttershy was now screaming at a normal volume for her, which was subdued talking for everyone else. "You're covered in blood!"

"I'm fine. This is your blood anyway."

"WHAT?!"

"Weren't you paying attention? My linen knife exploited a vulnerability in your magic, created by older versions of the story. Using that, my 'splinter of flax' could activate 'the death curse of the evil fairy', despite the fact that neither appeared in the same tale."

"But, but…!" Fluttershy was not in the right state of mind for magical academics, but Index ploughed ahead anyway.

"But your magic was focused on coping the blessings of the fairies. So while you may have copied the curse of the evil fairy, you also copied the blessing of the last fairy, who changed the curse so that _you would not die, but instead fall into a deep sleep_."

Fluttershy raised her hands. They were shaking, and covered in blood.

"I was planning to put you to sleep if you were trouble, but it also provided a convenient way to save your life. After all, when I stabbed you, the curse said _you would not die_."

It was a question of semantics. Obviously, in the legend the good fairy had meant 'would not die from the curse'. But high-end magic deliberately ignored implied restrictions and limitations like that. Simply by selectively paying attention to different parts of the spell, Index had swapped out 'death by Nightmare Mist' with 'a sleep so complete to seem like death' – all without casting a spell of her own.

Fluttershy breathed in, and breathed out. And in, and out. Feeling slightly calmer, she slowly patted herself down. Every bit of her was covered in wet, sticky blood, but the skin underneath felt whole and healthy. "I'm… not… hurt…?"

Index nodded. "In both legends, the sleep is used as a way to not die while still seeming to. It is only natural that the spell faked your death."

Fluttershy breathed in and out a few more times. In, out. In, out.

In, out.

Then she pitched forward and vomited onto the dirt.

Index rolled her eyes as the smell of bile mixed with the existing stench of blood. She glanced toward the park entrance, and weighed up her chances of escaping. Unfortunately, like Fluttershy her Walking Church (her habit) was soaked in blood. It wasn't just a matter of washing it – after something like this, she would have to have it purified and blessed again before she could really rely on it. All sorts of curses had begun from something like this.

The last thing she wanted was to become involved in a huge commotion like this. Even if, by divine providence, these new magicians didn't recognise her, the ones already on her tail would be drawn to this like flies to a corpse. Her best option was to run while this event served as a distraction.

She turned to go.

"…thank you…"

Index turned her head back to Fluttershy. The other girl was shakily pulling herself to her feet.

"Thank you." She managed. "For saving my life."

Index hesitated a moment longer.

She hadn't needed the help of this stranger. Her Walking Church would have kept her safe from that magician long enough for her to get away.

…but, by that same token, she hadn't needed to save Fluttershy either, had she?

The Calico kitten from before trotted into view. It looked at both of them, scrunching up it's face at the blood as if to say _Ew, gross_. Index absently picked it up with the hand that wasn't covered in blood, depositing it on top of her head, under her (also-bloodless) hood. She sighed.

"Come on." Index said. "That magician went this way, and given the Mana in that direction, other magicians are fighting there."

A multitude of emotions chased each other across Fluttershy's face. Fear, concern, outrage, fear again. She'd been thinking about herself and her situation so much that she'd forgotten that the other girls would be facing down the same opponent she just had. Twilight, she'd only met today. Most of the others, she knew but not all that well. But even if that hadn't been enough, her mind conjured an image of Rainbow: scowling fiercely up at Nightmare Moon even as her doom closed in.

None of them would have an Index to unexpectedly save them. How could she just sit here and sulk?

* * *

Rainbow Dash put up a great struggle, but the mechanical arms were too strong. She was held tight in place while something rubbery was forced over her head. That done, the arms released her; and Rainbow immediately rolled forward. She regretted the manoeuvre imminently, as she had to bite back a scream when her injuries flared in pain. Rather than the graceful escape she had been attempting, Rainbow just ended up flopping on her back, head pointed the way she came.

"Sponge Dust!" The robot(?) cried.

…

… _huh?_

"In air!" A fat metal finger pointed skyward. "Sponge Dust!"

Rainbow looked, and realised that she _could_ look: the thing on her face had eye-holes. She gingerly raised her hands and patted her face. The thing the robot(?) had struggled to force over her head was a breathing mask.

"React with water to make… to make… to make not-water!" The Anti-Skill lady's inexperience with the English language was showing. "You breathe, very bad!"

Rainbow very, _very_ carefully propped herself up on her elbows, sitting up in place and swivelling around so that she faced the robot(?). The oil-drum shaped head betrayed no emotion, but the thing's metal arms moved forward almost tenderly. "Here is not safe. You hurt! You need make sure no Dust in body! I get you away."

For half a second, Rainbow was tempted to agree with the ferrous figure. She was awesome, but she also _hurt_. A _lot_. Would it really be so bad if she sat this one out?

 _You were useless in that last battle._ Twilight's voice echoed in her head.

Rainbow's mouth twisted into a scowl. Yeah right. Like she was going to bail just 'cause of a little pain. Her wings were plastic, so even though they were a little broken moving them didn't hurt. The girl who could barely walk instead began to fly, hovering just off the ground.

 _Good thing my wings are just part of my spell. If I was being lifted by them, and not by magic, this would hurt really bad!_ Her back twinged at the mere thought of supporting her weight.

"Hey!" The Anti-Skill lady's voice had gained a harsh, commanding tone. "Girl! Is not safe! You leave, now!"

"Why?" Rainbow countered floating slowly back and up, away from the robot(?). "Are you gonna be leaving too?"

"We are in remote-control powered suits!" Well, that settled the question of whether they were robots or not. "Is standard when fighting water-controller! You is actually present, water-controller could control _you_!"

Rainbow wasn't an expert on magic, but she was pretty certain the logic of 'I control mist → I control water → I control blood' was something only the Science Side could pull off. From a magical standpoint, mist and blood had nothing to do with each other. Besides, the only thing Rainbow had seen Nightmare Moon do with normal water was to turn it into Nightmare Mist.

…

A vision of her body exploding from the inside out, mist leaking from innumerable burst blood vessels, flashed across her mind.

Great. Now she'd have that image in the back of her mind for the rest of the night.

Further thought was rendered moot when one of the other powered suits soared though the air, slamming into the buildings opposite hard enough to crack the concrete. The suit made a jumbled mess of sounds that made Rainbow strongly suspect that it wouldn't be getting back up.

Rainbow shot a look over her shoulder. Nightmare Moon was walking back though the hole in the wall created by the earlier attack against her, cold fury plain on her face. She snapped her fingers, and Nightmare Mist swirled around her like a twister.

The powered suit next to Rainbow barked out a command in Japanese, and the two powered suits with hoses sprayed out great streams of Sponge Dust. Nightmare Moon's face twisted, looking like she had been made to suck a lemon.

In the blink of an eye, she was smoke once more. Before the chemically-engineered powder could reach her, she had already scattered in all directions, her Nightmare Mist doing the same. Because she had not been completely through the wall when she did so, her scattering put the wall between her and the Sponge Dust, giving her cover.

"I am hating that trick." The Anti-Skill lady grumbled. (What did she say her name was? Yoshi-cat-what? Rainbow was regretting not paying more attention when she introduced herself.) The arms of the powered suit reached around to its back, when its own grenade-launcher-like weapon was attached. Drawing the weapon smoothly, she fired at the building Nightmare Moon had ducked inside, blowing the remains of the wall away. With several loud creaking and groaning sounds, the two-story building collapsed in the direction of its missing wall. Rubble spilled out onto the street.

Rainbow slowly turned back to face the powered suit, her mouth hanging open.

"What?" The Anti-Skill lady said. "She will being fine."

Rainbow rotated back to the rubble that used to be a building. Nothing moved.

The powered suit made sounds of slight movement. "Strange. Should not have worked so –"

There was a loud cracking noise from the side of where they were looking. Muscles natural and artificial moved in unison, staring at the vehicle Rainbow had seen coming in – the one that looked like a fire truck. The two suits manning the hoses hooked up to it also turned, confusion evident in their movements.

The obvious conclusion reached them the exact second the truck exploded.

The suit next to Rainbow, already tense, was in a position to jump in the way of the metal shrapnel that flew out in all directions. The squeal of metal stabbing into metal rang out as the powered suit was riddled with the remains of the truck. Fortunately, being much bulkier than a human, the suit easily hid Rainbow from the hail of shrapnel.

The two suits hooked up to it had it even worse – the force of the fragments blew them off their mechanical feet like they were bowling pins. The remaining suit didn't get off easy either, also getting peppered with jagged metal pieces.

Rainbow, who's view had been blocked by the suit jumped in her way, flew up over the powered suit. With the outside of the truck destroyed, Rainbow could now see its inside. The largest component of the truck appeared to be a tank filled with dark powder, scattering now that its container was broken. That was where the suits had been drawing Sponge Dust from, Rainbow realised.

"My, that certainly was energetic. I don't think I crushed it _that_ hard, did I?"

A wave of smoke started flowing out of the storm drain behind the truck, forming into Nightmare Moon once it was far enough in the air. The two powered suits that were still attached to the truck scrambled off the ground, pointing their hoses at her dramatically. Unfortunately, nothing came out of their nozzles. The truck, the source of the Sponge Dust, would be supplying them with it no more.

Nightmare Moon -humph-'d, and swiped her arm across. The Nightmare Mist followed the path of her hand, moving through the air in a thin blade-like shape. The thick armour of the powered suits didn't slow it down in the slightest, and both suits collapsed to the ground, bisected.

In a building halfway across Academy City, two Anti-Skill officers yelled in dismay as their remote-piloting pods displayed 'Connection lost'.

"Run!" The suit defending Rainbow yelled, opening fire with its weapon. But Nightmare Moon was expecting it now, and the Nightmare Mist spread itself in front of her as a screen, blocking the explosive force.

"No way." Rainbow snarled. She wanted to rush Nightmare Moon so badly it felt like a magnetic attraction. But she couldn't get to her with her shield of mist was in the way. She needed a way to get through it. What could do that? The esper girl back in the park had just gestured at it, and the robot-suit-things had -

Rainbow's eyes darted down, seeing the broken truck full of Sponge Dust as if for the first time.

The other of the two remaining suits – the one next to the hole in the wall – darted around to the slide, sliding as if on ice. It opened fire with it's own weapon, but the Nightmare Mist smoothly extended around to cover its mistress from that side as well.

Nightmare Moon flicked her wrists at both suits, and thin tendrils shot out from her mist like spears, penetrating straight through the weapons of both suits. Both officers tried to fire anyway. The one in front of Rainbow pulled the trigger fruitlessly, the weapon making an alarming grinding noise. The other suit's weapon just exploded, blowing the hands of the suit clean off.

The first suit dropped its now useless weapon. "Kid! Now! Run!"

"I already told you, no _way_!"

Rainbow's wings had been flapping as she hovered in mid-air, paying basic lip-service to the laws of flight they were otherwise ignoring. But then Rainbow inhaled mightily, and her wings halted in the outstretched position, shaking like they were under strain.

Rainbow let her breath out as a wordless yell, her wings swooping down like the birds they imitated. The very air around them seemed to be gripped and shoved forwards, a great gust of wind springing up from behind her.

The wind raced forwards, past Rainbow, past the powered suit, over and around the broken truck, scooping great bunches of Sponge Dust along with it as it went. Nightmare Moon's eyes went wide and she reflexively called her mist back to her, realising her mistake just a moment too late. The wind-borne Sponge Dust collided with the Nightmare Mist, and the chemical weapon of Science began destroying the elemental weapon of Magic.

Rainbow Dash smirked and made like her name, rushing forward in a rainbow-coloured blur.

Nightmare Moon scowled.

A half-second's worth of instinct caused Rainbow to swerve to the side, as water suddenly sprouted up from the ground behind the truck near Nightmare Moon. Rainbow blinked, wondering where that had suddenly come from.

She zoomed up and around, ending up at the building skyline almost directly above Nightmare Moon. From here, she could see that another tendril of Nightmare Mist had stabbed into the ground where the water was now erupting from. _Did she bust a water main? Why would she do that? The Sponge Dust will –_

The Sponge Dust reacted with water to form something that wasn't water. Wherever it touched the Nightmare Mist (magical, but still water), the two substances were destroyed, rendering Nightmare Moon's main weapon unusable.

But, didn't that mean that if she sprayed water at it, she could use all the Sponge Dust up without it touching her precious Nightmare Mist?

The realisation that Nightmare Moon was literally washing her trump card down the drain nearly caused Rainbow to miss the clump of mist that shot up to attack her. She darted to the side, but the Nightmare Mist split into a half-dozen tennis-ball sized clumps and spread out like shotgun pellets. That said, pellets didn't normally home in on their target. A fast-paced aerial dance of sorts followed, with the mist attacking and Rainbow trying to get past.

She knew that if she were in top shape there was no way these lame balls of over-hyped water would even get near her, but in top shape she wasn't. A moment's distraction saw a clump of mist hit her right in one of her busted ribs, the flare of pain allowing the others to collide with her and pin her to the concrete of the building next to her.

"Kid!" The powered suit cried, and it and its partner both bent their powerful hydraulic legs, jumping high into the air at Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon looked down her nose at the two incoming suits. The Sponge Dust had eaten away most of her Nightmare Mist, but not all of it. The clump holding Rainbow released her and flew down in front of the sorceress, spreading out to form a thin shell that completely surrounded her.

Though the shield of mist couldn't be more than a finger-width's thick, the two powered suits and the falling form of Rainbow slammed into it as though it was a metre of concrete. Yard. Whatever. It hurt.

Somewhere in her pain Rainbow heard the sound of the glass jar in her skirt shattering, and the buzzing of the lightning bolt inside being released. She bounced off the shell of mist, screaming in pain as her injuries from the night so far were exacerbated and added to. She fell to the ground, facing upright, and lay there for a second. It felt like white-hot wires were being pulled though her spine. When she had enough strength to gasp for breath, she forced her eyes open.

The two powered suits were lying on the far side of the mist shell, their front faces looking like paper run partway through a paper-shredder. Rainbow couldn't even image how badly she'd be hurt if her magic didn't protect her from weather-based damage.

The lightning bolt that Misaka had thrown, and that Rainbow had caught, was buzzing around inside the barrier of Nightmare Mist, a trace of white jagged marks zooming across the surface.

 _Oh, right._ Rainbow managed to think. She'd seen this earlier tonight. Nightmare Moon could have her mist block lightning by having it act like a thundercloud, trapping the electricity inside.

Trapping it inside… like a thundercloud.

Nightmare Moon floated over to Rainbow's downed form, the shell of mist deforming into a cloud once more. She made sure not to let the mist touch her flesh, and as the mist bunched up the lightning inside seemed to race around even faster. She raised her arm, the Nightmare Mist rising in preparation…

And as she brought her hand down, Rainbow kicked out, her foot impacting the descending ball of mist.

Nightmare Moon screamed, her face suddenly twisting unnaturally as the lightning bolt was forced out of the cloud and into the air on the other side – straight into her body. Her spasms of pain lasted for several seconds, and her form twisted and blurred as her limbs bent and straightened unnaturally, the edges turning to smoke but not fast enough.

Then her face relaxed completely. Her body fell bonelessly to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The Nightmare Mist dissolved into the air, immediately loosing its black colour and resuming a more normal appearance. One last breath escaped Nightmare Moon's lips, and she dissolved into ash. A moment of panic on Rainbow's part faded as she realised that the ash wasn't moving - it just sat there on the concrete.

The night was quiet again, save for the pained breathing of Rainbow Dash.


	6. Round up the stragglers

Both Twilight and Nightmare Moon stared (Twilight in slight confusion, Nightmare Moon with disinterest) as the Japanese teen continued to yell down in his native tongue. Twilight, who didn't speak a word of Japanese, was forced to guess his intent from tone and expression.

{I mean, whether you blew a hole in my wall on purpose or on accident, that's still really bad! Don't move. I'm going to come down and give you a proper lecture!}

The boy – who looked like he was in his late teens – looked really mad. Which made sense, Twilight thought detachedly. His apartment had just had a hole blown in the side, in a fight that had nothing to do with him. That said, Twilight was glad to see him pull his head back from the wall. From what she could see, it was probably to call the police or something.

In all likelihood, she and Nightmare Moon would be well and truly gone by the time anyone else showed up, which was good. Defeating Nightmare Moon would be difficult enough without having to worry about bystanders.

Speaking of which.

Twilight saw the Nightmare Mist zooming towards her out of the corner of her eye. (Careless! Never take your eyes off the enemy magician!) Quick as a flash, she raised her arms and erected a forcefield, silently grateful that her brother had drilled this into her until it was instinctual. The Nightmare Mist pressed forcefully against her magical shield, but it didn't make it through.

Nightmare Moon flicked her fingers, and the Nightmare Mist slammed into the forcefield again, shattering it. However, it used up its momentum doing so, allowing Twilight precious seconds to run forward to another parked car on the street.

 _Come to life!_

The car's wheels slipped against the road as the engine opened up full throttle, the newborn spirit inside the car filled with its only instruction: attack the opponent. Riding out the wheel-spin, the car spun around and charged toward Nightmare Moon. The Nightmare Mist froze in mid-air, seemingly hesitating between the car and Twilight. But as the car raced forward, the mist made up its mind and spread out like a pane of glass, blocking the car's advance completely.

 _Yes!_ Twilight's gamble had paid off. The Nightmare Mist was an _automatic_ defence. It was still intercepting cars because Nightmare Moon hadn't told it not to!

Aiming her right arm up at the floating form of Nightmare Moon, she fired off a beam spell. If the Nightmare Mist was busy blocking the car, it wouldn't be able to block her spell.

Unfortunately, she had underestimated how quickly the mist could move. It flattened out, extending upward and completely enclosing Nightmare Moon in a quarter-dome of mist.

Twilight's momentary surge of triumph melted away. Despite what she'd declared to the other girls, she was still having no luck so much as _touching_ Nightmare Moon.

If she couldn't sneak around the mist, and she couldn't force Nightmare Moon to drop it… Nothing in her repertoire of spells leapt out at her as being able to bypass the Nightmare Mist. Even if she did get past it, Nightmare Moon could turn her own body into vapour, repairing any damage and escaping any bonds. Until she understood exactly what symbolism it was based on, she couldn't destroy the spell behind that defence.

She needed some kind of trump card.

{Alright, that it! You two stop right now! We need to discus who's going to pay for my wall!}

Twilight's head turned around, a look of horror across her face, just enough to see the boy from the apartment stomp out of the ground-level doors and right toward the two magicians.

He was wearing a white collared shirt with dark coloured pants. For some reason, his undershirt was bright orange. It looked like he had thrown his clothes on in a hurry, which made sense, all things considered. Not that Twilight really had the time to be worrying about his clothes.

Nightmare Moon's eyes barely flickered in his direction. With a subtle movement of her hand, the Nightmare Mist suddenly bunched up like a piece of fabric hit from behind. The mist zoomed toward Twilight even faster than the cars Twilight had been sending the other way. She had less than five seconds to react.

A sudden raising of her arms, a rushed flow of mana down and out her fingertips, and a shimmering purple forcefield stood in the way of the deadly attack of mist. The mist slammed into her shield hard, this time breaking through without stopping. But while the forcefield did not block the attack outright, it did slow it down. The extra second or so meant that Twilight had enough time to finish the dive to the ground she had begun in tandem with her forcefield. The Nightmare Mist -whooshed- over her head, missing by a finger-width.

Only, it went both over her head _and_ off to one side.

Twilight managed to frantically pull her head up from the ground, just in time to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

Nightmare Moon had two targets in mind – Twilight and the boy. So, she had divided her mist in two, one for each target. Twilight had ducked. The boy was still standing, not having been expecting an attack and therefore being unprepared to dodge it. And now the Nightmare Mist was going to end his life.

Twilight opened her mouth to scream. She didn't have time to scream. She needed a spell. She couldn't think of a spell. Surely she knew a spell that would stop this – she was certain of it. But which spell was it? She needed to organise the spells in her head. She needed to go through them, one at a time, until she had found the spell that would stop this boy from dying.

A forcefield. No – Nightmare Moon would just break through it. A beam spell, to shoot down the deadly projectile – useless, you can't shoot down mist. Want It Need It – tried that already, it didn't work. What about –

She was out of time.

The projectile of magically-animated mist slammed into the boy's body with the sound of shattering glass.

* * *

Nightmare Mist lashed out, impacting the concrete wall around the roof of the building. It seeped in, and the wall broke apart so fast it looked like it exploded.

"Missed me!" Pinkie Pie giggled.

The skin around Nightmare Moon's eyes tightened.

-Crunch-, -crack- and a sharp, sudden -snap-!

The concrete wall around the top of the building made those noises as Nightmare Mist surged out against Pinkie. But the cloud missed every time, as Pinkie jumped, spun and bounced around each of the attacks like a cheerleader on a sugar high. A particularly well-timed cartwheel saw her airborne at the crucial moment the Nightmare Mist swiped across at ankle-height.

"Hold still, cockroach." The first hints of an angry scowl were beginning to appear on the face of Nightmare Moon.

"No!" Pinkie refused. "My leg said you would be my fiend, and my leg has never lied to me!"

"There's a last time for everything." Nightmare Moon boomed, her mist surging forwards as a solid mass. Pinkie dived forwards into a roll, and the mist destroyed an entire section of the waist-high wall large enough to drive a car through. In a stunning display of (a lack of) grace, Pinkie Pie finished her roll with her face pressed into the ground, legs in the air.

Pinkie lifted her face off the concrete, confused. "Uh, don't you mean 'there's a _first_ time - '"

"No." Nightmare Moon growled. "I don't."

The Nightmare Mist separated into six parts, and each part moved around around Pinkie so that so was surrounded. Pinkie's head swivelled around, trying to view all 360 degrees of her surroundings at once, eyes wide. She moved so that she was sitting up instead of lying down.

Abruptly, one of her shoulders jerked upwards so suddenly it actually knocked Pinkie over. Because of this, the cloud of Nightmare Mist that had been flying at her from behind missed.

Each part of the mist zoomed towards Pinkie in turn, in no particular order. Each time a part of her anatomy would suddenly and vigorously move on its own, and Pinkie would move in an undignified but successful manner to dodge the attacking Nightmare Mist. Rolls, jumps, and general amateur gymnastics were being used to counter Nightmare Moon's mainstay attacks.

After about a half-minute of this, Nightmare Moon recalled her mist, face still almost-scowling.

"You can see my attacks coming." She said. It was obvious to anyone even remotely observant – even if the Shadowbolt pretending to be Nightmare Moon didn't have second-hand memories of what had happened in the park, several of the attacks just now had been in the girl's blind spots. The Nightmare Mist was silent and odourless, so she could not be using her five senses to locate the clouds of mist. The girl had to be using something else.

"Oh gee, you noticed?" Pinkie said, without a hint of sarcasm.

"But you are not a magician." Nightmare Moon continued. She would be able to sense the magic if she was. There were ways to hide your mana from others, but a magician of that level would be able to do more than blindly dodge her attacks.

"Nope!" Pinkie happily confirmed, taking the opportunity to fully stand up. She stretched her arms out behind her, sticking her chest out as she did so.

"A Gemstone, then." Nightmare Moon concluded.

"Well, that's what most people call us." Pinkie bounced on the balls of her feet. "Rarity thinks it's confusing when she's all like 'Hey girls, come look at this new gemstone.' and I'm like 'Oh yay, a new friend!', and she's like 'What? No, Pinkie dear, I mean gemstone as in the mineral.' and I get really sad because I'm not getting a new friend, and –"

The gigantic run-on sentence had to be aborted as Pinkie suddenly jumped to one side. Only slightly after she started to move, Nightmare Mist surged through the air like a guillotine blade, in a path that would have bisected her if she had stayed still.

Espers acquired power from their 'Personal Realities', a self-made delusion that allowed them to override the world around them with quantum principles.

But to reach this kind of delusion – that the world worked the way they _wanted_ it to work – required a very specific kind of brain damage. In Academy City, they achieved this by injecting their students with drugs and sticking electrodes in their brain.

But, theoretically, wasn't it possible for this kind of damaged thinking to occur naturally? Even if it was a one in a hundred million chance, there were six billion people on the planet, so you would get a reasonable number of naturally occurring espers.

These natural espers were 'diamonds in the rough' – they were Gemstones.

(Though, being naturally occurring, Gemstones came first, so it was more accurate to say that espers were artificial Gemstones.)

"Your power must relate to the senses." Nightmare Moon idly commented, directing her mist to attack in motions reminiscent of a cat lazily swiping its paw.

"Well, –" Pinkie jumped over one attack. "– it has a really fancy name –" She cartwheeled past another. "– but I can never remember it –" She twisted so that the next two vertical slashes passed by her on either side. "– so I just call it my Pinkie Sense."

"But, –" Nightmare Moon said firmly, ignoring Pinkie's babble. "– freaks of nature such as yourself only posses one such ability."

Pinkie put her hands on her hips. "You are not a nice lady. We're really going to have to work on the whole friendship deal before I can throw you a proper 'Yay new friend' party."

" _Which means_ –" Nightmare Moon pressed on. "– that all I have to do is use an attack that you cannot dodge, even if you know it is coming."

"Is it an attack of pure friendship?" Pinkie asked eagerly.

"No." Nightmare Mist swirled out like a twister, blowing fiercely in a circle around the rooftop so that it completely enclosed it. "It is not."

Pinkie looked around. "Um." The Nightmare Mist completely surrounded her, with no gaps of any kind. Above her head, the mist extended out to form a dome, cutting off that unlikely direction of escape. "Er…"

Nightmare Moon stood inside this dome of mist, completely unconcerned even as the hemisphere began to collapse inward.

"But…" Pinkie looked down at her left leg. "But my new friend…"

"Like I said." Nightmare Moon floated up off the ground, her half-scowl starting to become a subtle grin. "Death has never refused the company of another."

Pinkie started to take a step forward, but stopped. She glanced left and right, no longer sure of herself.

Then she took a deep breath, and began to run full pelt at Nightmare Moon.

* * *

The boy was unhurt.

Twilight felt quite safe in openly gawking at the sight, because she could see Nightmare Moon doing the same out of the corner of her eye.

The Nightmare Mist had slammed into him at full speed. Twilight had not thought of a way to stop it in time. It had not been blocked, deflected, dodged or otherwise prevented from reaching him. With all of the power of someone who had made the sun disappear with the snap of her fingers, the mist had hit the boy with intent to kill.

He had held up both hands in front of his face, his right slightly in front of his left. It didn't look like a graceful, planned movement or anything – just something he had done, mostly in reflex.

That should not have been enough. He should be dead, his body… well, Twilight didn't want to imagine what his body would look like, but the long and short of it would be that he should be dead.

But when the Nightmare Mist had reached his right hand, it had made a sound like breaking glass, and had vanished.

Huh?

"My mist…" Nightmare Moon said, in a tone of voice Twilight couldn't quite decipher. "Boy! What did you _do_?!" Near the end of her sentence, the heat of anger had filled her speech, overriding whatever emotion had been there before.

The boy's mouth opened as though to speak, then closed. He looked sheepish, and rubbed the back of his head. {Um, could you say that in Japanese, please?}

Nightmare Moon frowned. "What?"

{What?}

The two stared at each other for a moment.

Then Nightmare Moon scowled.

The boy had only destroyed half her mist – the other half having gone after Twilight. That half had survived just fine, and had ended up behind the boy after missing its target. By moving her hands like she was tearing an invisible object in half, Nightmare Moon divided her mist in half once again. The two halves moved to flank him, one half on his left and the other on his right.

Twilight yelled out a warning, getting up and running towards him in a rush. Without thinking, she cast a forcefield around him.

The boy noticed Twilight's yell, and he definitely noticed the purple energy dome that sprung up around him. He spun around, panic in his face. {Wait, what? You're seriously attacking me just because I yelled at you? What kind of response is that? That's clearly an overreaction no matter how you look at it!}

He seemed to have already forgotten that he had just obliterated the Nightmare Mist like it was nothing.

The mist had still been moving while this had been happening. One of the groups of mist hit Twilight's forcefield at a shallow angle and, lacking the force needed to go through, deflected harmlessly off its surface. The other had a better angle and broke through. But, as Twilight had discovered just before, it took the mist a second or so to penetrate the magical shield, allowing the boy to turn and hold his right hand up in time to block the mist. Once again, when the mist touched his hand there was a sound like that of breaking glass and the mist disappeared, looking like it had burst from the inside.

Nightmare Moon's scowl deepened, and the remaining piece of mist flew back to her side. "So, it was no freak accident."

{What's with that look in your eyes?! I'm not important, I'm just a Level 0 nobody! Don't look at me with that kind of hostility!} Twilight couldn't understand the boy's words, but his tone was frantic, his arms gesturing wildly.

Whoever this boy was, he was afraid. Of course he was afraid. Twilight was afraid too. They'd have to be stupid not to be afraid. They were facing an opponent who used lethal force as a matter of course. Even though this boy hadn't come with the intent of joining the battle, there was a real chance that he wouldn't walk away from this alive.

…but.

Somehow, that boy had neutralised the Nightmare Mist.

Twilight was smart. That wasn't ego talking, she knew objectively that she was smart. More than that, she was a talented magician. Magical theory was her bread and butter.

She had no idea how this boy had done what he just did.

The Railgun girl from earlier had turned the mist to steam with microwaves, destroying its magical identity. Rainbow Dash had used the fact that her magic allowed her to grip weather phenomenon to grab hold of the deadly attack. But when that right hand had touched the Nightmare Mist, it had simply vanished without a trace.

She had no idea how he had done that. It made no sense from what she knew of science or magic.

But he could still do it.

 _I'm the only one who can stop her now._ Her own words rang in her ears.

She had left the others because she had believed that they would be of no help against Nightmare Moon. But that did not somehow give her the ability to take her down on her own.

It was completely contrary to what she had said in the park, but she needed the help of this boy.

Twilight dashed forward, quickly covering the remaining distance between her and the boy. The forcefield she had put up had vanished immediently upon being broken, so there was nothing stopping her from reaching forward and grabbing his (left) hand.

"Listen." She said. "Please, if you have some way of destroying her mist, you have to help me! She needs to be stopped or we will all die!" She pointed desperately at Nightmare Moon.

{I um… I don't speak… I _think_ that's English?} The boy replied, rather unhelpfully.

Twilight grimaced. "She –" She jabbed her finger at Nightmare Moon again. "– bad." Lacking any other idea, she bared her teeth and curled her fingers like claws. "We –" She gestured at him and at herself. "– attack." She mimed throwing a punch.

The boy looked over at Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon looked back at him with a cold, yet contemplative expression.

He didn't know what was going on here. He didn't know who either of these two people were, or why they were fighting. He didn't know where they stood in relation to himself.

But he did know one thing. When he had come down to the street to yell at them, one had tried to end his life without thinking, and the other had tried to save it.

This allowed him to place two very important labels on the two girls.

'Good' and 'evil'.

{Okay.} The boy said. {I'll help you out.}

If life was an RPG, this would be when the text "'Kamijou Touma' has joined your party!" would appear on screen.

* * *

Twilight was a genius of a magician. Rainbow was a human stunt plane. Fluttershy and Rarity were both magicians in their own right. Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie.

Applejack had a strong back and a childhood spent on a farm. Nothing else.

Well, right now she was holding a rope tied around a rock like an improvised flail, but given her opponent she might as well have been trying to take down a tank with a spit-wad.

Nightmare Moon flicked her wrist, and the Nightmare Mist rushed forward, rapidly becoming larger and larger in Applejack's view. The nearest tree was too far away. Applejack wasn't particularly confident in her ability to dodge.

Which was why, as she had been talking with Nightmare Moon, she had been worming her right foot under the soft topsoil.

As the Nightmare Mist zoomed towards her, she kicked up _hard_ , sending a spray of earth right at the magical mist. The two collided.

 _And where the dirt touched the mist, the mist ceased to exist._

The now-damp soil fell back to the earth with a soft -plop-! The mist that had missed the earth zoomed past Applejack, a large hole dug through its middle. The gap was big enough that Applejack barely needed to bend over to avoid the mist's deadly touch.

Nightmare Moon opened her mouth, paused for a second, then said a word in the flattest tone Applejack had ever heard, even flatter than when she had said this word earlier tonight.

"What."

"This here soil is good stuff. Real loamy." Applejack took a moment to appreciate the Science Side's gardening techniques. "Retains water a treat."

"You…" The fires of anger were growing in Nightmare Moon's eyes. "You counter my mist with _dirt_?"

"Jus' 'cause ah'm a farmgirl don't mean ah can't pay attention." Applejack snapped. "That lightnin' gal got rid of ya mist by turning it to steam, right? So ah thought ah'd give a try turnin' it to mud."

It was actually a better idea than Applejack knew. In the Chinese system of classical elements, the Wu Xing, earth overcome water because it absorbed it. Because it was such an old and well-known system, that notion had more-or-less become a law of modern magic.

Nightmare Moon recalled her remaining mist with a snap of her fingers, an expression of fury on her face. "You disrespectful –"

"Sure, ah'm 'just' a farmgirl." Applejack interrupted. "But we're standing in a garden righ' now."

She glared at Nightmare Moon. "This here is mah turf, missy."

Nightmare Moon glared right back. "Very well then. If you wish to die as you lived, writhing around in the _mud_ , then I will gladly oblige you!"

Applejack dug her right foot back under the soil, not caring in the slightest about the soil being smeared into her boot. These were her working boots, and by golly she wanted nothing more right now than to plant one firmly into Nightmare Moon's patootie.

Nightmare Moon clenched her fist. Applejack tensed her body, preparing to move at an instant's notice.

But, unexpectedly, Nightmare Moon swung her fist to the side. The Nightmare Mist, following it, flew off to the side of where Applejack was standing.

 _What in tarnation? There ain't nothin' over there 'cept some more trees… Wait…!_

The mist collided with the thick trunk of an old, tall tree – Applejack didn't have the time or the lighting to try and guess species – and the living wood made a great -crunch- noise as uncountable -crack- noises blurred into one. The tree began to tilt, a great chunk of its base having been turned into splinters. Before it could hit the ground, Nightmare Mist wrapped around it, lifting it into the air and snapping what wood still connected it to its stump.

Using the mist to hold the tree, Nightmare Moon swung it around to point at Applejack, that mass of splintered wood in front like the tip of a spear.

The corners of Applejack's mouth turned down in a dismissive frown, but her eyes still widened in fear. "Now that's jus' plain cheatin'."

Nightmare Moon's eyes held no sympathy for her plight.

The Nightmare Mist rushed forwards once more, but this time kicking dirt at it wasn't going to cut it. Applejack stuck her left foot out, turning her body and shifting her weight so as to bound off in that direction. In the same action, she pulled her other foot out of the ground. The heavy rock at the end of her trademark rope was swung up and around on an intercept course with the tree.

The rock hit the end of the tree dead on. It wasn't a very large rock, and it was a very large tree, but the extra nudge turned the tree just enough that Applejack's leap to the left cleared the jagged edges of wood.

The branches _on_ the tree, however, she did not clear.

-Crash-!

With a tremendous noise, the thrown tree collided with one of its brethren, still standing at the edge of the clearing.

The two great plants had a bizarre form of fusion as one was forcefully smashed into the other, the thrown tree embedding itself into the trunk of the standing tree. The force of the impact caused the standing tree to rock backward as its roots failed to keep their hold on the world underneath. It shuddered and creaked, huge cracks running through its surface, even as the thrown tree fell to the ground with another almighty -crash-!

Nightmare Moon stared toward the destruction with cold eyes. She saw the standing tree tilt further and further backwards, it's roots becoming fully exposed as the tree fell backwards with it's own -crash-! She watched the branches on both trees shake with the impacts, leaves breaking off from their stems in a flurry. She observed the wild energy of the crash drain and fade, as the silence of the night returned, the trees that once stood proudly now lying shattered on the ground.

The girl she had been aiming to hit, however, she could not see.

Nightmare Moon sighed, rolling her eyes.

She stepped forward lightly, pushing off against the ground to lightly float in the air. She moved swiftly around the trunk she had hurled, scanning for signs of her target. With the raising of her fist, the Nightmare Mist released its grasp on the tree to return to her side.

There was a rustling noise near the base of the thrown tree. Nightmare Moon's eyes narrowed, and she moved closer, her mist forming into a shape resembling a javelin. Torn and broken foliage formed a natural screen, preventing her from seeing the source of the noise.

The rustling came again, and Nightmare Moon swung her arm down, 'throwing' her mist-spear down into the leaves, impacting with a solid -thunk-. The rustling immediently stopped. Nightmare Moon leaned over and parted the leaves with her hands.

Lying there on the ground, with the Nightmare Mist speared through its core, was the rock Applejack had tied to her rope earlier.

There was a sudden -crack- from behind her, and Nightmare Moon whirled around.

Applejack was standing behind the unearthed roots of the other tree. In one hand, she was still clutching her rope. The other was pressed firmly into the roots of the tree, pushing with all her might.

When she saw that she had been seen, Applejack smiled, her lips curling upwards as if to say 'gotcha'! She tugged on her rope, and the rock moved, producing the rustling that Nightmare Moon had been hearing earlier.

Nightmare Moon involuntarily drew in a sharp breath.

The roots of the formerly-standing tree were caked with the same earth that had devoured her Nightmare Mist earlier.

Slamming one tree into another had almost-completely broken the wood connecting the roots to the rest of the tree.

The remaining wood had been weakened to the point where one strong push might cause the roots to detach and fall flat.

 _She was standing right where the roots would fall._

Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow and Fluttershy had magic. Pinkie, Kuroko and Misaka had psychic powers. Applejack had a rope, a rock, and a strong back.

 _Like ah need anythin' else!_

The roots fell!

* * *

Nightmare Mist rushed in from all directions. There was no escape. All avenues of retreat had been cut off. But still, Pinkie Pie ran towards Nightmare Moon like her life depended on it.

Nightmare Moon couldn't seen why. It wasn't like moving near her would make Pinkie any less dead.

Still, a flying tackle from a dead girl was not the dignified end to the fight that she wanted. Nightmare Moon gave the mental command to have her body turn insubstantial. She would stand here and watch unaffected as the girl suffered a messy demise.

Pinkie Pie was only a step away from her now, and she pushed off the ground to turn her run into a jump, arms in front like she was trying to grab Nightmare Moon.

The mist was just behind Nightmare Moon now, and she could feel it lightly brush the edges of her gaseous form as it engulfed her. She didn't let it do more than that, though. It discomforted her to have her body mix with the mist.

Wait. What was that thought that had just passed through her head?

The critical moment came; and for the first time in the entire encounter, Nightmare Moon fully showed an emotion – shock.

There was _one_ way to pass out of the dome of Nightmare Mist without touching it. After all, for this one instant, there was a 'Nightmare Moon'-shaped hole in it.

Pinkie Pie's hands reached out for her, but, failing to meet anything solid, they passed right through her. The Nightmare Mist was in exactly the wrong position – it wasn't close enough to have moved in front of her, but it was too close to cover her from behind. And because she hadn't let it mix with her body, Pinkie could pass through her to the outside of the dome of mist.

 _Wait, I can use my own body to crush her!_

Too late.

By the time she'd had that thought, Pinkie had already finished her dive and faceplanted into the concrete once again, legs in the air.

"You…" Nightmare Moon growled, reforming into a solid person once again and turning to face Pinkie. "You saw that escape before it formed? You could aim for an opening that only existed for a fraction of a second?!"

"What are you talking about?"

Pinkie pushed herself upright. Her face showed no silliness, nor any hint of fear. Instead, it showed a small, almost sad smile. "If I was going to die, I wanted to give you a hug before I left."

Nightmare Moon's face twitched.

She had avoided her attack because of that… the most _stupid_ of reasons…

Pinkie's back arched involuntarily as the biggest spasm of the night wracked her body. Her arms and legs stretched out and flailed about, before ceasing as abruptly as it had come.

"Wow, this will be a real doozy… does this mean we can be friends now?" Pinkie panted happily.

Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The sheer _naivety_ …

"We shall try this again."

Nightmare Moon snapped her fingers, and the Nightmare Moon formed a dome once again. But this time, Nightmare Moon was on the outside of the barrier. Pinkie Pie was like an insect trapped under a cup. Only, this 'cup' could rip apart stone and concrete faster than a jackhammer.

"It doesn't matter how many times you dodge." Nightmare Moon spat. " _I only have to hit you once._ "

And that was that. Without delaying or continuing to speak, Nightmare Moon clenched her fist. The Nightmare Mist closed inward, an inescapable wall of death.

Pinkie Pie's lips pulled up into a great big smile. A light giggle passed her lips.

You had to look closely to see that she was shaking in fear.

Then, something completely inexplicable happened.

{AWWWWSOOOOME PUNNNNNNCH!}

A projectile travelling far faster than the speed of sound _smashed_ into the dome of mist, out the other side, and finally into Nightmare Moon's face, blowing her clear off the roof and into the side of another building across the gap.

However, this wasn't one of Misaka's railguns.

It was the fist of a high-school boy.

The boy attached to this fist was wearing a white jacket over his shoulders like a cape. Underneath it was a T-shirt with the Rising Sun flag on it. A white headband helped keep his black, windswept hair in check.

{What kind of gutless encounter is this? This has gone beyond the point of a gutsy fight! People aren't bugs you can just squash whenever you like!}

" _Have I been cursed?_ " A cloud of smoke flowed out of the freshly-made crater to form back into a furious-looking Nightmare Moon, standing several strides away from both Pinkie and the boy. "There seems to be no end to the vermin crawling out of the woodwork tonight!"

The boy pointed an accusing finger at Nightmare Moon. {You have no guts!}

"Quit speaking gibberish, you punch-happy barbarian!"

"Don't listen to her!"

Nightmare Moon's attention switched back to Pinkie for a moment, and her facial twitch from just before returned with a vengeance. "What are you…? Why were you wearing that?!"

Pinkie Pie had thrown off her shirt and skirt to reveal that underneath… well, Nightmare Moon didn't know what the outfit was, but the long and short of it was that it was a cheerleader outfit.

Pinkie placed her hands on her hips. She was holding a pair of pom-poms that she had pulled from… somewhere. "In case of cheerleading emergencies! _Duh!_ "

{Can you feel them?} The boy demanded. {The overflowing guts of this girl?}

"Both of you _stop not making sense_!"

{Awesome punch!}

Despite being well out of reach of the boy's fist, some invisible force traversed the distance between them and blasted Nightmare Moon off the roof once more.

An ominous rumbling came from off the rooftop, but the boy ignored it and turned around to face Pinkie. {It's kind of rude to steal the show right before the big finale, but let me help out just this once, okay?}

"What are you… oh, I get it!" Pinkie's face slowly lit up like a million watt bulb. " _You're_ my new friend!"

She raised a pom-pom high. "Go get her!"

Thunder rumbled as Nightmare Moon's cloud form rose up over the lip of the concrete once more. The entirety of her Nightmare Mist was spread out behind her. Glowing motes of light took the place of her eyes, shining an ominous red on an otherwise black background. "I'm done playing around!"

{Super-duper ultra-amazing hyper-wind-up…} The boy took a step forward, pulling his fist all the way back.

Nightmare Mist rushed into towards him, but the boy either didn't notice or he didn't care, continuing to yell out.

{…awesome PUUUUNNNNCH!} He screamed, and sudden explosions of red, blue and yellow smoke rocketed him forward into the cloud of smoke that was his enemy. His fist came forward like a piston and slammed into the gas.

Logic dictated that action was useless. That punch ignored what logic said. Logic had no guts.

The fist smashed into the cloud, and the cloud rippled as _something_ spread out from the point of impact. A deep, echoing **-BOOM-** sounded the gasses that made up both the Nightmare Mist and the Shadowbolt that had been masquerading as Nightmare Moon exploded, each individual particle flying in a different direction at high speed.

In contrast, the boy landed on the edge of the roof as lightly as a feather. {Get some guts before you come back.}

His attempt to look cool standing on the edge of the roof was completely ruined as he was tackled by a pink-haired girl in a cheerleading outfit.

"That. Was. So. Cool!" Pinkie Pie had honest-to-goodness stars in her eyes. "She was all like 'roar', and you were like, 'bam!'."

{Well, of course.} The boy stood up, Pinkie still clinging to him. {I had more guts than she did.}

"I really need to throw you a 'Brand new awesome friend' party! …oh, wait. I kinda need to go save the world first."

{Think nothing of it; it was your amazing supply of guts that called me here!}

"Do you want to come? It'll be super-awesome fun if you're there!"

{Remember to trust in your guts! That is all that matters!}

"You don't want to? Okay. Here's an IOU for 'one Pinkie Pie Party'. Don't forget to redeem it!"

With that, the two ridiculous characters parted ways.

Neither one of them had understood a single word the other had said.

* * *

{I know I just said I'd help, but there's a big problem.} Touma pointed up at Nightmare Moon, still floating well above the ground. {I can't punch someone if they're flying.}

"If you can get us close, I'll… think of something." Twilight grimaced. When this whole thing was over, she was going to ask the princess what spells you were supposed to use to seal someone away. Right now, she didn't think she knew any. Just smashing her to bits wouldn't stop Nightmare Moon, and hoping that whatever the boy did would work on her body was more optimistic than realistic.

{I feel like we're not actually communicating here.} Touma crossed his arms, looking sideways at Twilight.

Twilight bit her lip. "You –" She pointed at him. "– cover us." She spread her hands out, tracing an invisible pane of glass.

{She – } Touma pointed at Nightmare Moon. { – is _flying_.} He waved his hands up and down like tiny wings.

"You two –" Nightmare Moon interrupted. "– _die!_ "

Twilight had twice tonight animated a car in her fight against Nightmare Moon. The destroyed remains of both of those cars was sitting roughly underneath the target they had failed to reach. Nightmare Moon raised up her right arm and motioned with her hand like she was grasping an invisible object. The remainder of her Nightmare Mist moved down to one of the wrecks, wrapping around it like a star-scape blanket.

The mist raised up into the air, taking the car with it. It hung there for only a moment before the mist swung forward and released; throwing the car at the two teens.

Touma's arms wrapped around Twilight as he crash tackled her into the mouth of a nearby alleyway. The screech of metal and shattering of what little glass remained unbroken told Twilight just how close to being hit they had just come.

"I said cover us!" Twilight snapped, glaring up at the boy on top of her.

Touma wasn't paying any attention to Twilight, instead looking back the way they came. {Whew, that was close! Who set the difficulty level on this thing? Bosses shouldn't be able to just go for your weaknesses like that!}

Nightmare Moon floated back into view at the mouth of the ally, the second car held in a magical grip.

Touma let out a panicked yelp. He stoop up, pulling Twilight to her feet. {Come on, we need to get out of here!} He started to run, grabbing Twilight's left hand with his right and dragging her behind him.

Whatever Twilight's response to that would have been to that was immediently drowned out by an unbelievably loud -screech- noise. The instant Touma's right hand touched Twilight, the air was filled with the sound of nails being scraped across a chalkboard. Touma kept running, but turning his head back to stare in surprise at the racket his hand was producing.

Nightmare Moon threw the car. On its side, so as to fit in the narrow alleyway. Touma was dragging Twilight though the ally as fast as he could, but it was clearly not going to be enough.

Fortunately, it seemed that Nightmare Moon had misjudged the size of the car. With the sound of metal scraping on concrete, the car became wedged into the walls of the adjacent buildings well before reaching the two teens.

Touma didn't stop to look – he kept on running until the two were completely clear of the ally and onto the street on the other side. Twilight took the opportunity to wrench her hand from his grasp. The awful sound instantly stopped.

"What was that?!" She demanded.

Touma held up his right hand, staring at it like he expected to see something else at the end of his wrist. {Imagine Breaker's never done that before…}

-BAM-

The alley they had come through was formed by two buildings built next to each other. The ground-level walls that made up that alley had exploded, becoming rubble strewn across the ground. Nightmare Mist floated out of the crushed derbies, returning to the side of its mistress. Nightmare Moon, her figure obscured slightly by the cement dust, gestured forward. The Nightmare Mist picked up and threw the car once more through the suddenly much wider alleyway.

Twilight raised her own arms, and a forcefield formed in front of her and Touma. The car slammed into it hard, but it lacked the penetration power that Nightmare Moon had been putting into her mist, so it didn't break through.

Nightmare Mist raced out of the concrete dust to slam into the forcefield, destroying it, but Touma stepped forwards with his right hand extended. Rather than lose the last part of her mist, Nightmare Moon gestured back towards herself, and the mist zoomed back towards her. It picked up the car again, but Twilight immediently responded by creating another forcefield.

It was a standoff. Touma could destroy the Nightmare Mist if it got close, and Twilight could defend against other attacks at range.

At the same time, Twilight couldn't attack Nightmare Moon while her namesake mist protected her, and Touma couldn't reach her in the air.

The battle would be decided by who made a mistake first.

Then Nightmare Moon decided to raise the stakes.

Rather than attack with her mist directly, or use it to throw an object, Nightmare Moon split her mist in half once again, sending the two halves into the buildings Twilight and Touma had run between just before.

-BOOM-

Enormous spider webs of cracks formed around the closest corners of the two building. The two teens blinked up as the two skyscrapers began to creak and slowly tilt in their direction.

Twilight let out a sound that resembled a strangled squeak. Touma just groaned. {Seriously? This is ridiculous, even for my luck.}

The slow tilting became a rapid fall. Twilight suddenly inhaled as she realised they had seconds to react. Not nearly enough time to get clear.

She bit her bottom lip, but inhaled deeply. The familiar rush of mana through her body was a badly needed comfort at this point.

Though cracked, the buildings were still mostly intact. Twilight changed that with a hasty pair of purple beams right into the two falling structures. The spells stabbed though the concrete, stressing it beyond what it had been designed to take. The two buildings began to break apart into rubble even as they fell.

Twilight's job was only half done.

She raised her arms to the sky, widened her stance, and concentrated. Her largest forcefield that night formed overhead as a roof of shimmering purple energy. _This is going to suck!_

 **-CRASH-!**

Several hundred tonnes of building fell on top of Twilight's hasty shield. Glass fragments showered down on it. Even the destroyed remains of furniture could be spotted in the deluge. But the biggest threat was the sheer weight of the buildings pressing down. Holding them up would be a feat worthy of Hercules himself.

Touma cautiously opened one of the eyes he that had closed as he flinched away from the incoming wave of concrete.

{Er… not that I'm complaining or anything, but why aren't we dead?}

Sweat rolled off Twilight's forehead, down her nose, and onto her big, triumphant grin. "There was _too much_ rubble." She explained rather pointlessly.

Touma (who still had not obtained the ability to speak English) looked up. It would be completely dark except for the one nearby streetlight and the softly glowing forcefield. Twilight's shield was completely covered in debris, forming a ceiling out of the destroyed walls. Twilight's forcefields were spherical, so that 'ceiling' was domed.

{Oh, I get it.} Touma only had the intellect of a below-average high-school boy to work with, but he still managed to spot the trick that had saved their lives. {It's packed in so tight it's holding up its own weight!}

Domes worked like arches in that every part of them helped to hold up every other part. All Twilight had to do was withstand enough of the initial shock to get the shape started.

Touma grinned. {Heh. Good thinking!}

"Yes, yes." The slightly muffled voice of Nightmare Moon sounded out from the other side of the dome of rubble. "The two of you have managed to survive like the cockroaches that you are…"

Twilight's forcefield disappeared.

The teens it had been protecting felt their hearts skip a beat as the forcefield that had withstood the impact of two skyscrapers falling on it suddenly vanished. The rubble-dome shifted alarmingly. Twilight could see the what looked like stars twinkling in the sudden darkness. Nightmare Mist!

Nightmare Moon had sent her main weapon in through the cracks in the rubble. It had broken Twilight's forcefield just like it had the other times tonight. And with that protection gone, the rubble was once again a deadly threat.

"But consider this: how are you going to dodge, now that you have nowhere to go?"

* * *

Applejack cautiously moved forward. The roots had fallen straight onto Nightmare Moon, who hadn't even _tried_ to dodge.

As she stepped down from the trunk of the tree that had been knocked over by Nightmare Moon's oversized spear, she grimaced, holding a hand to her side. She was a tough girl, and the blow being distributed through the smaller, more supple branched had reduced the impact on her. However, she had still been hit by a flying tree, so it was only natural that she hurt all over.

The caked earth on the roots gave it a roughly flat surface on the bottom, meaning Nightmare Moon would have been squashed flat. If she _had_ turned to mist, then the earth would have eaten her up the way it did the other Nightmare Mist.

Applejack pulled on her rope, and the rock tied to it came loose from under the fallen roots and rolled to a rest by her feet. She looked away from the scene, pulling her hat down over her eyes.

"Sorry." Even as she said it, the word felt completely inadequate.

She turned to leave.

There was a sickeningly wet -crunch- noise, and Applejack's screams suddenly tore though the night.

" _Did you think you could bury me in the ground like I was some corpse?!_ "

A hole had been blasted open in the dirt around the roots. Through it, a dark cloud had emerged and wrapped itself around Applejack's legs. Without mercy, the cloud had constricted, and crushed her limbs like empty soda cans.

The dark cloud relaxed its grip on her legs, and Applejack's body toppled to the ground. The impact knocked the breath out of her, stopping her screams for a moment as she gasped for breath. Her senses were distorted, drowned out by the unending torrents of pain flowing out from her legs. She was barely aware of the world around her.

"You have _no_ understanding of your place in the world." The cloud said, moving upwards and forming roughly into the shape of a human again, though it did not become solid just yet. It had shed its false identity as Nightmare Moon, and returned to merely being a Shadowbolt. "If I were real, that might have actually killed me!"

It leaned down, stage-whispering in Applejack's ear. "Unfortunately for you, I'm a filthy fake."

How had she survived? Simple. Applejack had counted on the earth to absorb her if she turned into mist. But Shadowbolts didn't turn into mist. They turned into smoke.

Applejack's vision was swimming in and out. Sounds were dampened, and echoed like she was underwater.

The Shadowbolt straightened up. "Normally I would allow you a quick, clean death, but your performance just now was completely unacceptable. Even if I am but a shadow of the original, you came far too close to victory."

Applejack's breath continued to come in shuddering gasps. No coherent thought could form in her head – her entire world was pain. Pain was all she could see. All she could hear. All she could smell and taste.

But.

Just for a moment, between one gasp and the next, her vision cleared. Right in front of her nose was one of the small metal pipes that fed the garden irrigators, connected to an electronic value. The valve was connected to another, larger pipe.

Applejack noticed that she was clutching the rock tied to her rope. She didn't remember grabbing it. It's cool, rough surface in her fingers felt _real_ in a way that the rest of the world didn't right then.

With no conscious thought behind it, Applejack lifted the rock up off the ground and smashed it into the value before her. Doing so caused her legs to burn anew with pain, and her vision was blocked with white spots. A fresh pain in her mouth made Applejack realise she was clenching her teeth so hard her it was hurting her jaw.

But the pain ebbed a little, and Applejack was able to see that the valve was dented but intact. She raised the rock again, ignoring the fire in her arms.

The Shadowbolt laughed as it watched Applejack hammer away at the valve. "Have you lost your mind? I'm _behind_ you. Not that a mere rock could hurt me." The fuzzy outline of a face moved in a way that would make an observer think it was smirking. "You got your hopes up for nothing. A mere serf should not even _dream_ of attacking their monarch. Keep your dreams in the dirt where they belong."

Applejack gave one more mighty blow, and the valve broke off completely. The high-pressure water from the main pipe sprayed out of the hole like a geyser, going over Applejack's head and engulfing the Shadowbolt behind her.

Suddenly, the Shadowbolt was the one who was screaming.

Uncountable water droplets tore through the Shadowbolt, each one taking away a little bit of the smoke that comprised its body. As a whole, that deadly cloud could exert enough force to crush a person's legs. But each droplet of water ate away a few particles of smoke with every drop. The same process that carved mountains into valleys was washing the Shadowbolt away.

The Shadowbolt staggered to the side, trying to escape the deluge. It was no use. Too much of it had been eroded away too quickly. Its screams faded away as the cloud became smaller and smaller.

Then, they faded to nothing. The Shadowbolt was gone.

The rock slipped from Applejack's fingers, her hands having lost all grip. A weak chuckle escaped her lips. Her breathing was slowing down, but her vision was going dark.

She couldn't feel the pain in her legs anymore.

She couldn't feel anything anymore…

"…jack! No… …with me…!"

Was someone there? For some reason, the voice sounded like yellow and pink… and smelled of red? It was was fading in and out like a bad phone connection.

"No time… …quickly… …an angel…"

This voice was white and gold…

Applejack exhaled, and then knew no more.

* * *

Once again, Kuroko was using teleportation to zoom through the night. This time, Rarity was her passenger.

"Kuroko, was it? Listen, I know it's dreadfully rude of me, but my curiosity is simply eating me alive." Rarity spoke loudly so she could be heard over the rushing wind. "Does your sister always behave like that?"

Kuroko nearly teleported the two of them into a skyscraper as she suddenly coughed and spluttered. "Blugh?! Sissy isn't my sister!"

"She isn't?" A confused expression came over Rarity's face (not that Kuroko could see it, carrying Rarity under one arm). "Then, why do you call her 'Sissy'?"

"Because there isn't an English word for _Onee-sama_!"

"Which means…?"

"It is a title we Japanese reserve for only the greatest paragons of history."

Rarity tried to lean away awkwardly from the dreamy-eyed Kuroko, but that wasn't really possible considering that Kuroko was the one carrying her through the sky.

(Incidentally, to the rest of the world 'Onee-sama' just meant 'Highly respected older sister figure'.)

"So…" Rarity tried to think of something to steer the conversation away from… whatever obsession it was that Kuroko had with her friend.

"So Sissy is elegant and refined and kind and caring and basically the greatest person in the world ever." There were tones and inflictions Kuroko was using in her speech that indicated to Rarity that she was trying to talk like a high-class lady, but her young age was working against her there.

"Is _that_ what passes for elegant and refined around here?" Rarity muttered under her breath, remembering Misaka's behaviour back at the park.

"Do you _want_ me to drop you?"

As they were about level with the tops of skyscrapers at this point, Rarity shut up.

For a minute, the only sound was the roaring of the wind. As the seconds passed and the silence continued, the strange fervour that had come over Kuroko faded slightly.

"Sissy is a good person." Kuroko was staring ahead, eyes watching were she was going. "Everyone has good days and bad days, right? Dealing with events like these certainly counts as extreme circumstances."

"Darling, she stole your phone and left you lying on the sidewalk in your underwear."

Kuroko's response must have gotten lodged in her throat, because she started coughing and spluttering again. It took her a moment to clear her throat. "W-well, like I said, you just caught her in one of her tsun moments."

"Hang on, dear." Rarity squirmed in Kuroko's grip for a moment, then pointed off to the right of where they were currently headed. " _She's_ changed directions again."

Kuroko adjusted the course of her teleports. Having a tracking-type esper was proving to be very convenient. Maybe she should check if she had any tracking-type schoolmates who would be willing to join up with Judgement…

"And I don't really see how she could be having a 'soon' moment, dear. Is that some sort of Japanese term?" Rarity added.

"Huh? What do you – no, _tsun_ , as in tsundere." Kuroko pronounced the word carefully – tsun, as in the first syllable of tsunami, then deh-reh.

"I don't know what that means either, dear."

"Well, you know how some people will be mean to you and push you away, but it's because actually, deep down, they love you?"

"You mean that those sorts of people are _real_?"

* * *

The destroyed remains of two skyscrapers was hanging precariously over head. The forcefield that had been holding them in that dome shape had been broken by the Nightmare Mist, so now only that shape was supporting it.

But this wasn't a properly-engineered structure. It would fall under its weight any moment any moment. If Twilight put up another shield, the mist would break it.

Touma could destroy the mist if he could reach it, but the mist didn't need to be anywhere near him to prevent the formation of a life-saving shield.

Still, Twilight was a magician. Escaping from a 'locked room' like this was nothing. She grabbed Touma's arm.

"Hang on." She warned him, hoping that her tone would tell him what her words would not. She gathered her mana, wrapped it around the two of the them, concentrated…

…and went absolutely nowhere, because her spell failed with a shattering noise.

Touma gave a confused wince. {Sorry?}

They were stuck.

Apparently sick of waiting, the Nightmare Mist slammed into the base of the debris-dome and knocked out the base of the structure. Twilight put up another field, a smaller one, but the mist immediently rushed over and broke it. With the two teens unprotected, the rubble began to fall once again.

Then…

"F-A-W-A-B-T-F-R." Form a wall and block the falling rocks.

The Nightmare Mist froze in mid-air for a moment, before racing ahead of the avalanche of falling rubble it itself had started. It squashed out into a flat plane, and the chunks of concrete slammed into it. The avalanche stopped, the structure holding once again.

"What?!" Nightmare Moon's angry voice boomed from the other side of the wall.

"You threw me off at the park with your outdated magic style, but I've gotten the pattern down now." Another, younger voice spoke from outside the dome.

"What did you –"

"Have you ever tried to count while someone read numbers out loud?" The other person interrupted Nightmare Moon's demand. "It becomes difficult to distinguish between the information in your head and the information being fed to you. This works the same way."

By reverse-calculating the magical formulae going through your opponent's mind, you could work out the weakest mental point in their spell. Combined with an ancient speed-reading technique, you could insert your own commands into the enemy's magic.

This was a technique called Spell Intercept.

But Twilight didn't know any of this. She couldn't see a thing, trapped under the rubble as she was.

They needed to get outside. The Nightmare Mist was holding up the debris for now, so Twilight felt safe blowing a hole in the side of the dome. Holding up a hand, she charged and cast a purple beam spell that blasted clean through the building remains. This made a hole big enough to crawl through, so she did, Touma right behind her.

Outside, Nightmare Moon was focusing her attention on a new arrival. Her appearance fit the voice from just before – that of a young girl. She was wearing clothes that might have been a nun's habit if they weren't covered in fresh blood.

Behind her – Twilight did a double take. It was difficult to recognise her under her own fresh layer of blood, but that was definitely Fluttershy. And… was that Applejack she was carrying on her back? So much blood… what had the others been up to?! They hadn't gone after Nightmare Moon on their own, had they?!

"Why is it –" Nightmare Moon ground her teeth. "– that whenever I am about to finish off one of you, some other bug comes along and interferers?"

"You picked a fight with the whole world." The bloodstained nun said. "Don't be so surprised that the world decided to fight back."

Nightmare Moon scowled. "You say you have met me already?" She snapped her fingers. "Then 'I' have some explaining to do!"

The meaning of that confusing sentence was made more clear when seconds later a sudden gust of wind blew in, carrying along with it a dark cloud of smoke. That smoke solidified into another 'Nightmare Moon' behind Fluttershy, startling Touma and causing the nun to blink in surprise.

"Yes, me?" The newly arrived Nightmare Moon derided. "Could you not handle these by your… you. Didn't I kill you already?"

That tore it. "Fluttershy, what is she talking about?" Twilight asked, slightly panicked.

Fluttershy mumbled something inaudible.

"Fluttershy! Why does she think you should be dead? Why were you even fighting?!" Just because Twilight had ditched them as useless didn't mean she wanted them hurt!

"One of them came back to the portal." Fluttershy said softly.

…oh.

Twilight hadn't thought of that. She'd missed altogether the possibility that Nightmare Moon would want a second look at the portal she'd chased them through.

Meanwhile, Touma was complaining. {Doesn't anybody speak Japanese here?}

The nun looked over at him. {I do.}

{Oh.} Touma blinked, not really having expected anyone to reply. {Er, hi. I'm Touma. Kamijou Touma.}

{Index Librorum Prohibitorum.} Index introduced herself.

Touma's eyebrows drew together as he tried to remember what order English names went in. {Wait, so is Index your family name or your – }

He halted, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. Turing his head to look, Touma could see both Nightmare Moons giving death glares to the ones ignoring them.

{Sorry.} He mumbled.

"Regardless." The second Nightmare Moon stated, moving her attention to Index. "You could at least have the courtesy to die when killed."

* * *

Fluttershy stood off to the side, eyes flickering between the two Nightmare Moons.

On her back, Applejack made a pained noise. Fluttershy didn't think she was awake. She hoped she wasn't. The sight of Applejack – strong, stubborn Applejack – lying on the ground, two bloody pulps where her legs should have been… she would have thrown up, had there been anything left in her stomach.

Fluttershy had panicked. Index hadn't.

Index had glanced up at the stars, and said things that Fluttershy didn't understand. She drew a boundary in the dirt with her foot, and told Fluttershy to stand in a specific spot.

She had said that, as she couldn't cast magic, Fluttershy would have to be the one to heal Applejack.

It didn't feel like she had cast anything. Index had taken charge. Index had set everything up. Index had firmly told her everything she needed to do. It had felt more like Index had been the one casting the spell, and Fluttershy was just another ingredient in the ritual.

But, she had done as Index had told her, and like a miracle, Applejack's legs had stopped bleeding. The misshapen flesh had… had _un-crushed_ itself back into a recognisable shape.

When they were done, Index had looked up and told her that they needed to keep moving, because her friends were still out fighting, and not even she knew how to perform a resurrection.

It was a completely different world to her life in Humansville. She had known there was danger in the world, that there were many out there who would think nothing of crushing a cabal like theirs underfoot. But she had taken comfort in the thought that even if something like that did happen, the princess would be able to handle it.

Nightmare Moon had defeated the princess within seconds of her arrival. With that, the bottom had fallen out of Fluttershy's safe, cosy little world.

Rainbow Dash had stood up to Nightmare Moon, and had been casually swatted aside. Twilight, the greatest magician they had, could do no more than block her attacks somewhat. Saten's friend, the third strongest esper in the world, had danced to her tune like a snake before a snake charmer.

Index had done so much for her tonight, but deep in her heart Fluttershy was terrified that she would be blown away like the others had been.

* * *

Two identical sorceresses stood at both ends of the road. Between them stood Index, Twilight, and Touma.

Fluttershy had cautiously moved to the side of the road. The Nightmare Moons had not reacted, likely not deeming her a threat. Applejack was still draped across her back. Despite having been magically healed, the farmgirl was not yet awake.

Index looked intently at Twilight, her eyes tracing over the other girl's form like she had done with Nightmare Moon earlier. She tilted her head in slight confusion, but turned around to face the second Nightmare Moon on the scene, her back to Twilight and Touma. She seemed to have decided that they could be trusted to have her back, now that she knew she was friends with Fluttershy. It also helped that she still didn't seem to have been recognised yet.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the borderline-snobbish attitude from Index, but turned her attention to the Nightmare Moon she had arrived to fight.

Touma had _no_ clue what was going on. The purple-and-pink girl wanted help fighting the purple-and-black woman, but then there was this white-and-gold-and-red girl, and there were two of the purple-and-black women now, and they were all fighting? Huh? Could somebody take a moment to explain to this poor high-school student what exactly was going on?

From underneath Index's hood, a small kitten meowed nervously.

That was the signal that ended the standoff.

The second Nightmare Moon grinned ferociously, Nightmare Mist forming behind her like a curtain.

The first Nightmare Moon was more guarded, focusing on Twilight and Touma with laser-like focus. She clenched her teeth, and pulled an invisible object towards herself with what looked like great effort. The Nightmare Mist that Index had hacked returned to its master, causing the dome of rubble to collapse loudly as its support left. Her considerably smaller share of Nightmare Mist floated around her body, sticking tightly to her outline like armour.

Even as the second Nightmare Moon commanded her mist forwards, Index was already chanting. "F-P-T-A-O." Forget previous target, attack owner.

That Nightmare Moon, flushed with overconfidence, let out a strangled yelp as her own mist enveloped her instead of Index. Quickly reduced into smoke, the cloud that was Nightmare Moon was invaded by her own mist, the two churning together like they were inside an invisible blender.

* * *

More guarded than her twin, the other Nightmare Moon strode forwards aggressively. Twilight fired a pair of beam attacks at her, but the Nightmare Mist swirling around her form shifted into position and blocked the attack just before it reached her.

That was fine. Twilight had only been probing her defences anyway. She held her hands out, palms down, and focused. The ground under Nightmare Moon's feet glowed purple, causing the sorceresses to halt mid-step. Twilight didn't giver her a chance to react.

The purple shimmer was revealed to be a forcefield when Twilight clapped her hands together. It folded down the middle like a piece of paper, aiming to crush Nightmare Moon in-between the two halves. Nightmare Moon held out her arms as if to catch the two planes of magic, but before that happened the Nightmare Mist extended out and blocked them for her.

That was when Touma unexpectedly ran in from the side. He swung his fist into Twilight's forcefield, shattering it like glass. He swung that same fist again, hitting the Nightmare Mist. It also shattered like glass. Touma aimed his fist for her chest…

…and Nightmare Moon's leg connected with a meaty -thud- between his legs, impacting so hard Touma was actually lifted off the ground. He collapsed awkwardly to the ground, tears leaking out of his eyes. Nightmare Moon raised a foot, ready to stomp on him, but a beam of magic from Twilight blasted her off her feet.

* * *

On the other end of the street, the other Nightmare Moon had regained control over her own Nightmare Mist, separating out from it and returning to solid form, seething.

Index's eyes narrowed. _Her parameters don't match those of a homunculus… more like a golem or a shikigami. A spirit bound into a specially-made body. That would explain how there can be multiple of her, and how her body can be made of unliving material._

There were literally dozens of spells Index could think of off hand that would instantly defeat an opponent like this… and she couldn't cast a single one of them. She risked a glace at Fluttershy. Still cowering on the sidewalk. The courage she had mustered earlier had evaporated upon being thrown back onto the battlefield.

The other magician, the one who appeared to be Fluttershy's friend… she could use Index's knowledge very well. Too well. If Index gave her the keys to winning the battle, she would want to know how Index had known such things, and she would have to run again.

Lost in her own considerations, Index nearly missed the mana flare that meant her opponent was taking action. Index's Nightmare Moon seemed to have realised that using the Nightmare Mist wasn't going to work, because she extended her arm and cast a different spell. Index felt the magic flow out of Nightmare Moons arm and into… Index blinked.

Index had a photographic memory – that was how she had been able to memorise 103,000 grimoires in the first place – but that did not mean she was aware of everything around her at the time it was happening.

For example, she had failed to notice that they were fighting right next to a toy store.

Nightmare Moon's corruptive magic flowed out of her and into a plush spider toy in the window. The spider-toy's many arms suddenly twitched, and in the blink of an eye the toy grew to the size of a bear, shattering the window outwards.

"The minions can summon more minions?" Index said, surprised. If they could do that, then why not swamp them under unending tides of cannon fodder? No, wait… looking, Index could already tell that this was a much weaker spell than the one responsible for 'Nightmare Moon'. It probably would fall apart in minutes.

Still, that didn't really help when the giant spider was charging her right now.

* * *

The Nightmare Moon Twilight was fighting was out of Nightmare Mist. She shouldn't have been a threat anymore. But Twilight had forgotten that that Nightmare Moon still had something she could attack with – herself.

Her beam spell blasted Nightmare Moon back, sure, but she just turned insubstantial again and started flying back towards Twilight. Twilight summoned another forcefield around the incoming sorceress, but she slammed into it, cracking and shattering it. It took her a couple of seconds to do, so she wasn't as good at it as the Nightmare Mist was, but that still meant that forcefields weren't the solution Twilight was looking for.

However, she could slow her down. As soon as Nightmare Moon broke through her forcefield, Twilight was already casting another one. Nightmare was still advancing, and this would burn through her mana like nothing else, but it would buy her time to think.

Cloud, cloud, cloud, how did you kill a cloud? Was there any legend about a hero killing a cloud-monster? Probably, but none were coming to mind. She _still_ didn't know how the cloud spell worked, so she couldn't unravel it. Wait! Clouds went away naturally when they used up all their water raining… did she know any spells to make it rain?

Nightmare Moon broke another of her forcefields. At her current rate, she would reach Twilight after breaking another three.

There was rain dancing, but Twilight didn't know how to rain dance.

Nightmare Moon broke another forcefield.

The Science Side had a trick called cloud seeding, but that wasn't guaranteed to work on a magical cloud. Also, she didn't have the time.

Nightmare Moon broke another forcefield.

Come on, think! She was Twilight Sparkle 000 and she would not end like –

Nightmare Moon broke the final forcefield. It was too late, she was in striking distance now. The formless cloud rushed to envelope her –

But before it could, it shattered like glass. Behind it, Touma stood, reaching forward with his right hand, clutching his groin with his left.

…

"Oh." Twilight blinked. "Um. Thanks?"

{That was for my balls, you sadist.} Touma spat at the space Nightmare Moon had formerly existed in.

The furious look on his face faded to confusion as that space remained empty. {Er, wait. I didn't just kill someone, did I?}

* * *

The kitten under her hood hissed in fear at the approaching monster spider, but Index didn't move. She stared in mild disinterest as the creature many times her size scuttled towards her.

The giant spider legs reached out to knock her down…

…and bounced off her habit as though they had encountered a brick wall.

Nightmare Moon snarled, floating up off the ground. "What is this? That boy just destroyed 'me' with a simple touch, and you stand unaffected when you should be dead? What manner of freaks are you!?"

"Have you really never seen a Walking Church before?" Index tilted her head. "If you can't even breach one of these, then how did you ever delude yourself into thinking you could fight off the entire world?"

A Walking Church was a magical garment that was designed as a fabric version of a church building. That allowed it to have the same defensive enchantments placed on it as a church did. Even the weakest Walking Church was worth the same protection as thick stone walls. Index's was an accurate reproduction of the Shroud of Turin, a pope-class barrier.

Basically, it was the sort of thing Rarity would go gaga over.

"I won't have this…" Nightmare Moon snarled. "I won't allow any hint of defiance!"

Bouncing off the Walking Church, the giant spider tripped over its many legs and fell backwards, ending up near Fluttershy. Index expected the older girl to scream and panic, but instead Fluttershy's arms wrapped around it as she… hugged it and cooed into its ear?

Apparently, that girl just plain hugged everything.

Twilight and Touma moved up behind Index, standing with her to face the one remaining Nightmare Moon. Twilight looked determined, but Touma looked a bit hesitant.

"Oh yeah?" Twilight challenged. "And how exactly are you going to stop us?"

"Like _this._ " Nightmare Moon snapped her fingers.

A familiar gust of wind suddenly blew in, bringing with it a familiar dark cloud. That cloud changed shape and compressed into a familiar-looking form.

" _Another_ Nightmare Moon?" Twilight said, exasperated.

"You better have good reason for calling me here." The new Nightmare Moon said to the old, in a tone that contained not a speck of respect. "What is it that you were too _weak_ to handle?"

The old Nightmare Moon pointed at Index. "That one can control the spells of others, and has a barrier that turns aside all attack." She pointed at Touma. "And that one destroys all spells he touches!"

The new Nightmare Moon looked at the old one with a look of utter contempt. "And the solution to this was not obvious? You really are _useless_."

She gestured harshly towards the other, and the old Nightmare Moon's face twisted in pain, her body dissolving into thinner and thinner smoke until she vanished entirely.

{What just happened?} Touma asked Index.

{Apparently, helmet-hair here is a union's worst nightmare.} Index answered him. {…wait, what was that part about you destroying all spells you touch?}

{She said I do what?}

"Look out, dears!"

Four heads (Touma, Twilight, Index and Fluttershy) swivelled up to look at the lip of one of the lower skyscrapers.

"R-rarity?" Fluttershy squeaked.

"Take care!" Rarity yelled down from the rooftop. " _That one's the original!_ "

"Wait, you mean those other ones were fake?!" Twilight's eyes widened.

"Wait, you mean you knew where the original one was the whole time?" The unexpected voice of Kuroko sounded out, the girl herself striding into view with a frustrated scowl.

Suddenly, Touma was lifted into the air. A woman's hand had grabbed the back of hist belt and pulled him up off the ground.

There was a moment of shock as all those watching tried to figure out when Nightmare Moon had moved.

Without a word, face still contemptuous, Nightmare Moon swung her arm with impressive force, throwing Touma at Index.

Time slowed.

 _Why do that?_ Was the first thought that flashed across Index's mind. _She knows I'm protected from attack –_

" _And that one destroys all spells he touches!"_

Index had perfect recall, so for her reviewing the night so far was like looking though a photo album. Taking a split-second to do so, she realised that she actually _didn't know_ how Twilight and Touma had cancelled the spells of the fake Nightmare Moon they had been fighting.

Index broke down every spell cast that fight into its basic components.

The magic didn't match up.

Index didn't know how the spells were destroyed.

And if she didn't know how they had been destroyed, that meant she didn't know if the same trick would work on her Walking Church.

Touma's involuntary flight had crossed half the distance to Index. He was pin-wheeling his arms through the air madly, as if that would somehow help.

Index couldn't move out of his path in time. Even if she madly pushed herself to the side, his right hand would collide with her hood.

She couldn't afford to loose her Walking Church. Without it, she was defenceless: fodder for any magician to capture. There had to be some way to keep him from touching her clothes! Come on, think!

The moment of truth came. Touma's hand flew through the air at Index's head…

…and Index opened her mouth wide and chomped down on it.

That moment seemed to stretch on even longer, as if reality itself was confused at what had just happened.

The moment finally passed, and time resumed normal flow. The two collided fully, both tumbling to the ground.

Twilight, suddenly finding herself almost in arms reach of Nightmare Moon, brought her arm up in a panic and fired off a beam spell. Nightmare Moon gave her a flat look as the Nightmare Mist blocked the attack once again, then turned her attention back to the Index and Touma, dismissing Twilight completely.

{Ugh, gross.} Touma groaned. His right hand had effectively been shoved down Index's throat by his own momentum, but that had also pushed Index back and to the side. The upshot of that was that the two and ended up on the ground side-by-side, his elbow in the air and well clear of Index. Their only point of contact has his hand.

Index didn't answer, probably because she was too busy gagging on his hand. The kitten under her hood had dug its claws into her hair in fear, but it was also protected by the Walking Church, so it was fine.

Touma's voice sounded pained, but he pulled himself off the ground. {I think my hand touched the back of your throat. What was the point of doing that?} He gingerly pulled his hand out of Index's mouth.

The sound of breaking glass rang out.

{…wait, did I just negate some–}

Index's eyes turned red.

In the next instant, a sudden shockwave blasted Touma though the air, sending him on his second trip through the air in under a minute.

If anyone had had the proper angle to see, they would have witnessed magical circles form inside Index's suddenly soulless eyes.


	7. Count the shadows

Rainbow Dash had destroyed a Shadowbolt by electrocuting it.

A certain gutsy fighter had punched one to death.

Applejack had washed one down the drain.

Touma had negated another one's very existence.

Nightmare Moon herself had dismissed one.

Including the original, that accounted for six of the 'Nightmare Moons' from the park.

...

Wait a minute.

Hadn't there been seven to begin with?

And, for that matter, what had happened to the magicians who had been chasing Index?

* * *

Nightmare Moon was a threat from a time when much of today's common knowledge had yet to be discovered. Even if it had been, only a small number of people would be familiar with the beginnings of science due to the scarcity of information sharing.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that she didn't actually know what 'triangulation' was. She just knew, more from experience than anything else, that the more spread-out the searchers were, the easier they found the task of location. (Common sense applying, of course.)

Since she had failed to notice the Sun being restored in the sky, her only criteria for the one who would have done so was 'powerful'. Hence, when a strong flare of magic appeared in the city, Nightmare Moon paid strict attention. It was a trap, of course—magic could not be felt at any distance unless it was in use, and at this range? The magician was just burning power to paint a sign on themselves saying 'come get me'.

That said, just because it was a trap didn't mean Nightmare Moon was going to avoid springing it.

The magician in question was standing in the middle of one of the wide streets of Academy City. (Nightmare Moon didn't know what a 'six-lane' road was, nor that the structures overhead were called 'overpasses'.) There was a spell up with which she was unfamiliar, but the sense she got was that the spell was there to keep interlopers away. Nightmare Moon wished she'd known such a spell—it would have saved her much frustration earlier. Maybe after she had crushed this challenger she would tear the knowledge of it's casting from their broken mind.

The magician was a girl of the east, as was everyone Nightmare Moon had seen this night that did not come from her sister's quaint little town. She wore one of the thin shirts that seemed to be a fashion of this time, but knotted up under her rather impressive bosom. She wore pants—again, a woman wearing such things seemed to be acceptable now—but one leg had been sliced off. The odd ensemble was completed by the seven foot long sword she held out vertically, gripped in both hands, still in it's scabbard.

Nightmare Moon took this all in in a glance, evaluating the other magician. No doubt, the mismatched cloth would have magical significance, but really? Her impassive look melted away into her usual arrogant smile. "I see fashion and good taste have vanished altogether while I was gone."

The woman's eyes tightened, her grip on her sword following suit. "I am Kanzaki Kaori. " She ground out "One of less than 20 Saints in this world."

"And I am Nightmare Moon." The woman in question replied, not at all impressed. "The Queen of Eternal Night. Are you the one with designs to end my reign?"

"I may be. Are you the one who removed the sun from the sky?"

"I am."

"Then I stand your opponent regardless."

Nightmare Moon tilted her head back, a wry smile on her face. "Then come and meet your doom, 'saint'."

No other words needed to be exchanged.

Kanzaki made the first attack.

" _Nanasen._ "

Kanzaki's sword peeked just slightly out of its scabbard. That very instant, seven long cuts appeared on Nightmare Moon's body, stretching all the way from the right of her hips to her left shoulder.

On a normal opponent the cuts would not be enough to kill, but they would be painful, and they would be dangerous.

Nightmare Moon was not a normal opponent.

Kanzaki had not attacked the face of her enemy, and only that part of her remained solid. The rest darkened and blurred into dark cloud, and the Nightmare Mist she had arrived with spread out to fill the wide street. With an almost childishly sinister laugh, she disappeared entirely behind the magical shroud of water vapour.

Kanzaki stared intently at her opponent. In truth, she had not expected that attack to do much. Any magician that did not have at least this level of protection would have been defeated already. But now she saw her opponent's first line of defence and could begin to analyse it for weaknesses.

When the mist rushed towards her like a wave on a beach, Kanzaki noted to herself that it was apparently also her first line of _offence._

The wave of attack magic crashed into the support column behind the Saint. Despite the concrete and rebar having been designed to hold up the great weight of the overpass above, great cracks formed in the structure. The great mass of mist lazily drifted through the air, but Nightmare Moon paid it no mind. Her head was tilted up at the correct angle to see Kanzaki as she completed her leap though the air, having jumped over 20 metres upwards onto the overpass to avoid the attack.

...it should go without saying that Kanzaki was not a normal opponent either.

The Saint glared down at her opponent. " _Nanasen._ "

Nightmare Moon was ready for it this time, but the attack still came too fast for her to properly react to. The attacks this time focused on her tendons – the ones in her forearms and ankles. For one very undignified moment all Nightmare Moon could do was hang limply in the air as her magic automatically repaired the damage. Despite flopping like a dead fish, one hand made a vague upwards gesture.

The cloud of Nightmare Mist drifting under the overpass moved once again with purpose, surging upwards into the concrete structure. Kanzaki leapt well clear of the road, angling to fall back down to street level. Thanks to her superhuman acrobatics, Kanzaki was unaffected by the overpass suddenly breaking apart into large chucks of rubble.

However...

Nightmare Moon clenched one hand, and rather than allow the rubble to just fall to the ground, the Nightmare Mist enveloped them. Kanzaki's eyes widened as the chunks of concrete were spat out at her like deadly watermelon seeds.

Twisting her body around in the air, the Saint swung her sword around. Each and every one of the rubble flying towards her was hit by an unseen attack and pulverised into rock dust.

Nightmare Moon frowned. She began to stride forward, and with another gesture called her mist back to her side like a loyal puppy.

Kanzaki's feet finally hit the ground, her body landing so lightly it was hard to imagine the great forces that had occurred on her path down.

"You are holding back, Saint. Does the fate of the Earth really matter so little to you?" Nightmare Moon's voice echoed out clearly across the battle field. Only her outline was visible though the dark cloud that surrounded her.

Kanzaki's eyes narrowed at the taunt. This time, she didn't bother calling her attack. Instead, there was a noise like a blender in operation as an uncountable amount of slashing attacks struck Nightmare Moon and the mist that bore her name.

The form known as the Queen of Eternal Night was reduced to her gaseous state faster than the human eye could process. For several seconds, the endless combo of strikes continued to precisely destroy any attempt of reformation on the part of the cloud. Kanzaki's eyes stared intently at her target, like a hunting bird at their prey.

"Pathetic."

Abruptly, the rain of attacks halted. Kanzaki suddenly clutched her oversized nodachi tight as the sword was nearly wrenched from her grasp. In the abrupt stillness, seven wires could just be glimpsed stretching from Kanzaki's blade to Nightmare Moon's mist.

"You have _power_." Nightmare Moon acknowledged, reforming to the side of the entrapped wires. "And you have speed. But ultimately, your attack relies on slicing your opponent, which makes it useless against me! You cannot cut one who is above such things!"

Apparently, the Saint's slicing attacks were not her swinging her sword faster than could be seen. Rather, she was controlling these wires with her magic to form seven near-invisible blades. But now that her main method of attack was sealed, Kanzaki had been removed as a threat.

…or rather, that was what Nightmare Moon had thought. Kanzaki herself did not seem to share this opinion, suddenly shifting her stance and leaping forward. As she moved, she moved her sword _just so_ , and the slack in her wires started to form into recognisable patterns –

But a sudden surge of unfamiliar Mana throughout the area caused her to suddenly drop to the ground, aborting whatever she had been attempting. Just as surprised, Nightmare Moon's head whirled around, trying to take in the whole area at once.

When she had arrived, she hadn't noticed; but small pieces of… ( _What was the word?_ Nightmare Moon asked herself. _Ah, yes; paper_.) Small pieces of paper were scattered sparsely across the fronts of the buildings to the sides of the road, to the bottom of the overpass, some even on the road itself. Inked on each were two Germanic runes.

There was a deep, masculine shout that echoed across the street.

" _Innocentius!_ "

There was a _third_ magician present.

In the space between one second and the next, the air changed from a cool July night to the dry, hot air of a burning house. A sound blared out, sounding like a fusion of the roar of a fire and the roar of a predator.

A monster had appeared behind Nightmare Moon. It looked as though it was made out of fire, with a black, oil-like core. It held the vague shape of a human being, though it's digits were too long and its head was misshapen. Where it stepped, and for metres around, the asphalt underfoot melted like ice cream.

It was the Witch-Hunter King, _Innocentius._

An ancient curse of the non-magical kind dropped from Nightmare Moon's lips, reflexively giving the attack command to the Nightmare Mist. Kanzaki's wires were flung towards her, the mist that had held onto them so tightly now throwing them away as it rushed towards its new target.

Innocentius took a step forward, the road bubbling as unbearable heat pressed down. Fire burst between its hands, forming into a crucifix of white-hot flame. With both hands, it swung that cross through the incoming cloud of mist. A frustratingly familiar hissing noise reached Nightmare Moon's ears as unimaginably hot fire vaporised her main weapon before it even got near.

"Fire lights the darkness."

Nightmare Moon had to squint to see past the incredibly bright flames, but there was an outline of a person that lined up with the magic she was feeling. The new voice, booming out above the roar of the fire, came from that direction.

"Fire banishes the cold."

Innocentius took a step forward, and Nightmare Moon took a step backward. The feeling of a sword-tip pressing between her shoulder-blades reminded her that she had two opponents.

"Fire wards away monsters."

Nightmare Moon launched herself upwards and forwards, escaping the sword and the fire monster. For a moment, she raced away through the air uncontested. Her escape attempt was foiled as one of Kanzaki's wires wrapped around her (still solid) ankle and yanked her back down to _terra firma_.

Innocentius moved closer. If she tried to fly away again, even as a cloud, the fire monster would be in position to vaporise her before she could get away.

"Essentially, one could say that fire is a power that opposes the night."

Innocentius blazed with a fire so hot and bright that it reminded her of her sister, those few times she had truly gotten angry. Nightmare Moon decided immediently that she hated it.

She had managed to gain some distance, but that was rendered meaningless as Kanzaki gracefully leapt clear over her head, flanking her. Nightmare Moon struggled to her feet, getting a good look at the second magician now that Innocentius's light was not washing him out. His face was that of a boy on the cusp of becoming a man, which was ridiculous given that he stood over six feet (180cm) in height .

Various piercings were dotted around his face, his hair was coloured bright red, and a strange black tattoo on one cheek. (Nightmare Moon did not know a barcode when she saw one. Likewise, she couldn't identify the small object clutched in his teeth as a cigarette. Throwing herself into whatever dream she could reach had kept her language skills relevant, but not much else.)

"My name is Stiyl Magnus. But tonight you can call me Fortis931." Behind him, Innocentius roared.

"You invoke your Magic Name?" The figure of Nightmare Moon levitated unnaturally to her feet. "Very well. I was not planning on showing you mercy regardless."

"You were supposed to maintain the People-Clearing Field. I had this under control." Kanzaki told Stiyl, looking at him from the corner of her eye. Her attention was still mainly focused on Nightmare Moon.

"As much as it pains me to play into a cliché," Style puffed on his cigarette "you were taking too long."

" _Do not take me lightly._ " Nightmare Moon spat, her feet settling back down on the ground. "I am the Queen of Eternal Night, who stole the day forever from you!" A pulse of magic set up a summons: _Come to my side, o servant of mine..._

"Restoring the sun isn't that hard." Stiyl said calmly. "We have here a master of Shinto magic. All we have to do is use the legend of the Amano-Iwato – the 'cave of the sun goddess'. Using a magical dance, we can 'draw the sun out from where it is hidden'."

He clearly meant for it to remove her confidence. The sun's absence was her ultimate victory condition – while it remained, Nightmare Moon was winning with each passing second. Taking that away would halt her scheme in it's tracks.

That said...

Nightmare Moon threw back her head and laughed, loud and heartily. Innocentius roared, and Kanzaki's sword drew menacingly close, but…

"Fools. It is indeed true that the sun returned to the sky that it was banished from."

Stiyl and Kanzaki shot surprised looks at each other, but Nightmare Moon continued talking.

"But I removed it again. So tell me, magicians – _why is it still missing?_ Could it be that returning the sun to the sky is a task so difficult you would rather face me in battle then see which of us would run out of power first?"

 _Finally_ , her servant had arrived.

"As far as I am concerned, you two have achieved nothing. Now, Tantabus – finish them off!"

Kanzaki's sword dropped from her suddenly limp hands. Her eyes were open so wide one might get worried they were going to fall out. Small tremors echoed across her body.

Stiyl yelled in surprise and anger, and Innocentius answered, surging toward Nightmare Moon as a sea of flames. The fire giant was ignored, however, as Nightmare Moon glared at Kanzaki.

"Quit struggling you fool, do you not know when you are defeated?!" Nightmare Moon roared, and Kanzaki's body abruptly relaxed.

" _Nanasen._ "

The blur formerly known as Kanzaki snatched her sword from the ground and, in one fluid motion, swung it and its wires out at super-speed.

Sticky-taped to every visible surface were slips of paper, each bearing the same two Germanic runes. Considering how they had flared with magic when Innocentius had been summoned, it was an obvious leap that they were crucial to the fire giant's presence.

Kanzaki's wires turned every nearby rune paper into confetti.

The instant she did so, Innocentius's roar gained a pained note to it, and the monstrous summon seemed to destabilise, its outline blurring. It flew backwards until it reached runes that were still intact, then it recovered its form. The fire giant burned brightly, but it did not attempt to move into the area now empty of runes.

One of Nightmare Moon's fingers moved to point at Stiyl. "Good. Now him."

The red-haired flame magician clutched his cigarette in his teeth so tightly he nearly bit clean through it.

" _Nanasen_." Kanzaki whispered softly and serenely. As soon as she did, seven wires tore through Stiyl's body so fast a normal human would only know they were there by the shockwaves they left as they passed. His body was ripped to pieces so quickly it seemed like a joke. There, alive and well, then suddenly gone.

The last look on Stiyl's face was one of shock and pure terror...

…

…

Nightmare Moon sighed. This entire confrontation had been competently ridiculous from the start, but she would have thought that _this_ time the obvious result would have prevailed.

"You know, you really had me worried for a second there."

...or at least, that is how it should have happened.

Stiyl breathed out a cloud of smoke, one hand on his head, standing in the same place. He was, infuriatingly, completely unhurt.

"Converting Kanzaki to your side should have been an instant death sentence for me. And yet, I'm still alive."

Nightmare Moon stared at the flame magician with hate.

"Kanzaki knows how I fight. If she was actually trying to kill me, she would have tried much harder than that."

Nightmare Moon was only half paying attention, the rest of her mind focused on the figure of Stiyl before her. A twitch of her finger had Kanzaki slice it to pieces once more. Stiyl's boy blurred very slightly were the wires passed through him, but otherwise he displayed no reaction.

"But that didn't happen. You haven't converted her to your side at all – she's just a puppet, doing _exactly_ what you tell her."

Nightmare Moon closed her eyes. Ignore what she could see – she would need to rely on what she could _feel_. With her new servant keeping the fire monster away, she needed not fear harm to herself.

"I do have to give you credit, though. I didn't think some no-name magician like you would be able to control a Saint."

Nightmare Moon felt raw, liquid hatred rising in her. Stiyl's mana was calm and composed, like his demeanour. This _infuriated_ Nightmare Moon, but told her nothing of why he was not lying in pieces. Even her mana would fluctuate when her magic was reassembling her body…

…

"You're an illusion." She snarled, opening her eyes to glare at Stiyl.

He just puffed on his cigarette in response. "What? Me, fool the senses of the great Nightmare Moon?" He mocked. "Surely you jest."

"I have told you already not to take me lightly." Nightmare Moon warned. "If you were authentic, I should be able to sense the mana flow from your body to that monstrosity over there!" She pointed at Innocentius accusingly.

-Puff, puff-

"Heh." Stiyl muttered. "Not as stupid as you look."

"Tear his runes apart." Nightmare Moon ordered Kanzaki. "All of them."

The Saint shifted her stance, her thumb on the hilt of her sword… and made no further attempt to move.

Nightmare Moon turned to face Kanzaki, her expression furious. "I order you! Eradicate every trace of him!"

It was only when she turned to face her that she noticed that, somehow, more of that man's runes had been plastered across Kanzaki's front.

Kanzaki's body tensed. " _Nanasen_."

…

Nightmare Moon straightened up, her face unreadable. "I see."

Kanzaki's wires had carved the same runes into the ground that Stiyl had on his slips of paper; over and over again until the ground was littered with them.

"Surrender." Kanzaki growled. Instead of the serene blankness it had held before, Kanzaki's face now showed the fury of someone who had been made a fool of, and did not appreciate it in the slightest. She raised her sword up, still in its sheath, and settled into a stance facing Nightmare Moon. Innocentius roared once more, moving closer.

Nightmare Moon did not reply, instead raising her arms up –

– and Innocentius surged forward, and the Shadowbolt pretending to be Nightmare Moon was engulfed in fire that burned as hot as the very surface of the sun.

It did not even have time to cry out. When faced with that unimaginable heat, even smoke was destroyed.

Kanzaki glared at the seemingly empty space to her left.

Stiyl's body wavered like the pavement on a hot day, and his image vanished completely. Simultaneously, another Stiyl appeared with much the same special effect, now located where Kanzaki was looking.

"People are always underestimating the uses of fire." He muttered around his cigarette, leaning down to pull the rune papers off his partner. He was completely ignoring the look Kanzaki was giving him. "Though I'll admit, creating mirages is a bit more than a simple beginners trick."

 _That wouldn't be nearly so effective if you hadn't learned how to hide your mana signature and create decoys._

Kanzaki did not say that say that pointless statement aloud. With a distasteful look on her face, she slid her oversized sword all the way back into its sheath. That self-proclaimed queen had overridden control of her body, even through her divine Stigma. Unacceptable. A Saint was not someone you could control with outside force.

She plucked the last of Stiyl's paper slips off her bare midriff herself, and asked the question that sat at the forefront of her mind. "Since when do you know mind magic?"

Innocentius's roar ceased as Stiyl dismissed his summon with a vague wave of his hand. "Don't be so surprised."

He picked his cigarette out of his teeth, glancing down at it. "In both eastern and western magic, the cigarette is a spiritual item for influencing the mind. By using the smoke to map out the inside of your head, I was able to determine –"

"That's not what I was asking."

Stiyl looked up. Kanzaki, who's only expression had been grim determination for so long, had a hint of something else in her eye.

"You learned it for her, didn't you?" Kanzaki said, quietly.

Stiyl didn't need to ask her who she meant. There was only one girl she could mean.

 _It doesn't matter if I forget you. That… that just means I get to meet you all over again!_

… _right?_

He put his cigarette back in his teeth, forcing his mind away from the memory of a terrified girl's voice. "That so-called queen didn't have Index with her. And I didn't notice any remote communication spells."

Kanzaki keep her gaze on her partner for a moment longer, before looking away. "Neither did I. We were counting too much on our bluff about restoring the sun to spook her."

Just knowing a legend applicable to your situation wasn't enough. You had to break it apart into its most basic symbols and reassemble it in your favour, incorporating those symbols into your equipment. It was not something that you could do on the spot.

It didn't matter how powerful or skilled you were. The sun was simply too fundamental to be affected by the casual whims of mortals.

 _Well, unless…_

Kanzaki scowled, but forced herself to finish the thought. … _unless you were on the level of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum._

Some random magician that nobody had ever heard of, randomly appearing with magic powerful enough to switch the sun off like a light bulb? Not a chance. There was no way to gather that kind of power without attracting the attention of the major churches.

No way, that was, without exploiting the same girl Stiyl and Kanzaki had been tasked with tracking down.

Stiyl walked over to the nearest group of intact rune papers, picking them off the ground. The disadvantage of over-specialising in runes – his magic required him to prepare his battlefields in advance. "Whatever spell is keeping the day away is still active. Killing that queen wasn't enough."

"If you hadn't killed her," Kanzaki pointed out "we could have interrogated her about her spell, and we'd know how to stop it."

Stiyl ignored the barb. Kanzaki was overpowered enough to be able to show mercy to her deadly foes. He wasn't nearly that high up the food chain.

"We need to find Index." He said. "That's the simplest way to solve this."

"…so all we have to do is destroy her world once again, huh?"

Kanzaki's whisper was so soft that Stiyl almost missed hearing it. He paused, stuffing a handful of rune papers into his robes. He turned, his mouth opening –

A sudden surge of magic, off in the distance. Huge. Impossibly huge. No one of this power could possibly be here – not in the Bastion of Science. Not without the director-general's permission.

(Well, one such person had already appeared tonight, but she was dead now.) So who was this?

Stiyl and Kanzaki exchanged only a brief glance before breaking out into a run.


	8. All out battle

"Warning. Reading from chapter three, verse two. Barriers one through three of the collar of Index Librorum Prohibitorum destroyed. Penetration of all barriers confirmed. Preparing for regeneration… Failed. Self-regeneration of the collar impossible. Now prioritising interception of intruders to preserve the 103,000 volume library."

With the kitten on her head making fearful mewling noises, Index's body floated upright in the air like a puppet, dragged upwards by invisible strings.

Twilight had been focusing on Nightmare Moon. She had been focused on what was obviously the biggest threat, her mind frantically trying to figure out how she had moved so close without anyone noticing.

But no matter how hard her heart had been racing, no matter how rushed her thoughts, it meant nothing. Twilight had instantly frozen upon hearing Index speak.

"Index… Librorum… Prohibitorum…?"

The words tumbled out of her mouth in a breathless, fearful tone. Nightmare Moon, the foe she had been focused so much on, was completely ignored as Twilight slowly turned around.

" _The_ Index Librorum Prohibitorum?!"

* * *

This was a world where anything with a soul could learn and use magic.

There were many people who could misuse such power. A fail-safe was needed. The solution: the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

Originally, that name had belonged to a list of books, each of which contained such dangerous lines of thinking that they sullied your soul if you read them. Later, that name had been given to a young girl who had done the impossible and memorised every page of these eldritch tomes.

Each of the 103,000 grimoires that made up the List of Prohibited Books was a magical artefact of such power that it could decide a war. By the time you had gathered all 103,000 of them together you were not talking so much about a set of tools as you were an apocalypse in the form of paper and ink.

Even a fully trained magician could not read an ORIGINAL-class grimoire without irreversibly damaging their minds, frequently to the point of death. In order to be useful to mortals, their purity had to be diluted, which caused much of the information contained within to be lost.

But say there was a girl who could read a grimoire without any risk. Not just any grimoires either; but those of the ORIGINAL class. Now say that this girl had a perfect memory – she only had to read them once, and the knowledge would be contained inside her forever.

If that had been all, then the owners of grimoires all over the world would have never let this girl anywhere near their precious books. They did not wish to become party to creating a new god.

But it was alright, Index's superiors had reassured. In addition to her other traits, this girl was unable to use magic. No matter how much magical knowledge she accumulated, she wasn't able to use any of it.

It was only this last fail-safe that had persuaded those owners all over the world to lend their texts to the creation of a human Index Librorum Prohibitorum. This master of magical knowledge would be able to unravel and counter any magic, an invaluable asset in a world where anything with a soul could learn and develop their own spells.

* * *

But, now that Twilight thought about it, wasn't there a big problem with that story?

This was a world where anything with a soul could use magic.

So why couldn't Index?

 _And what had she just mentioned about a collar being destroyed?_

"Multiple threats detected. Reading from chapter five, verse one. Adjusting tactics to ensure the swiftest resolution to the conflict. Begin annihilation of targets in order of threat assessment." Index's eyes were definitely focused in one direction, but with the glowing red circles in her eyes Twilight couldn't tell if she was looking at her or at someone else.

 _No way._

 _This can't be real!_

There was no reason to believe that this girl was _the_ Index, right? Maybe she was just using the name to scare off her opponents?

The real Index couldn't use magic. She knew every spell in the world, or she might as well have. Fighting someone who knew and could perform the perfect counter to your every move would not be a desperate struggle against a powerful foe.

It would be an ant picking a fight with an avalanche.

"That's enough!"

Kuroko teleported down to stand with the rest of them, Rarity along for the ride.

"I don't know what is going on here, but I must warn you that if you continue to escalate this situation further –"

Kuroko didn't get to finish her warning, because the circles in Index's eyes pulsed with red light. Just like what had happened to Touma just moments before, both girls were sent hurling through the air.

(Touma, having just gotten to his feet, dashed forward to catch them, but he just ended up cushioning their involuntary fight with his own body.)

The soulless creature wearing Index's face glanced down at the teleporter. "Reading from chapter seven, verse five. Enemy can ignore the restrictions of space. Countering with St. George's Holy Sanctuary."

The magic circles left the confines of Index's eyes, expanding in size until they floated in the air in front of her. Black lightning crackled between the red lines of the circles, which had grown to Index's own height.

All around Index's body, the world cracked open. Pure darkness seemed to seep out of the cracks, which radiated outward like fractures in broken glass.

Twilight tried in vain to swallow, her throat dry. _Yeah, that's the Index all right._

 _This is really, really bad!_

"Such power…" Nightmare Moon said, something like greed in her voice. "Were you the one to restore the sun to the sky, girl?" Unknowingly, she asked the same question as her Shadowbolt had before.

Index's eyes moved to face Nightmare Moon, the circles before them perfectly mimicking the movement. "Assessment of the battlefield completed. Reading from chapter twenty three, verse twelve. Emulating the spear of mortal pain."

Something emerged from where the two magic circles overlapped. It moved so fast that none present could tell what it was until it had embedded itself in Nightmare Moon's chest with a wet, meaty -thunk-. It held the shape of a spear, but it was comprised of glowing light the same blood red as the circles that had come from Index's eyes.

Twilight's eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes were fixed at the 'handle' just in front of her face. If she'd been standing just a little more forward, she would have just lost her nose. She staggered backwards, her feet carrying her away from Nightmare Moon and towards Fluttershy and the others.

Nightmare Moon, for her part, didn't seem to care much about the spear embedded where her heart should be, save that she grunted and made to pull it out, her hands somehow gripping the handle of crimson light. Her face grew frustrated as the weapon refused to give up its purchase on her, staying put even as her whole chest turned into mist.

Twilight wasn't surprised that Nightmare Moon couldn't pull that spear out. If that spear was what Twilight thought it was, then it couldn't be removed from its target without cutting away the flesh it was stuck in. And that would remain true, even if that flesh wasn't solid, because _that was how magic worked_.

If she was right, that that was one of the most powerful spears in any legend _ever_ , and oh _help_ Index had just fired it off with _no preparation_ , and they were in _so much trouble_ …

With one final fruitless tug, Nightmare Moon gave up trying to pull the spear loose. "You little brat…" She seethed. She lifted her right hand into the air, palm up. "Nightmare Forces! Come to my side!"

"Reading from chapter four, verse one. Enemy magician has established summoning beacon." Index reported tonelessly. "Now beginning countermeasure - ' _Reclaim this world, χάος_ '."

* * *

While this exchange had been going on, Rarity and Kuroko had managed to untangle themselves from the pile of limbs they had ended up in (on top of their human cushion Touma). Coincidentally, this put them right next to Fluttershy and the still-unconscious Applejack, both of whom had ended up on top of the giant spider at some point.

"This is getting well and truly out of hand…" Kuroko reached for her phone, but her hand only encountered empty space. Misaka, of course, had taken it earlier. "Does anyone here know who that girl is?"

For just an instant, a line of pure black appeared, spreading from the circles in Index's eyes and continuing on as far as anyone could see. The moment passed, and the line disappeared. There was the sound of rushing wind as air was sucked in to fill a sudden vacuum.

Nightmare Moon's eyes widened – the line of black passed through her hand where she had been gathering mana for her summons, and everything in that blackness had completely ceased to be. Her spell was destroyed, as was the hand that had been casting it. She shrank ever-so-slightly as mist seeped out of the rest of her body to recreate the missing hand.

Fluttershy swallowed. "T-that's Index." She said, with all the volume of a particularly stealthy mouse. "She – she helped me before… I d-don't understand! She was nice!"

Sure, they'd met on the wrong foot, but Fluttershy had meet lots of her animal friends like that. She couldn't reconcile the blunt, straightforward, yet gentle young girl to the thing floating in the air. The world was literally fracturing around it! No evidence of any kind of humanity could be seen in those eyes. They were like the eyes of a robot – seeing and evaluating the world around it with no attachment to it whatsoever.

What was this thing that had taken Index's place?

Nightmare Moon seemed to have recovered from the surprise, her eyes narrowing again into slits. "Try to keep my from my servants, will you?"

She spread her arms in a great arc. "You really think you can keep them from me, their mistress?"

Index's eyes tracked the hands as they moved through the air. "Enemy is repeating previous tactic. Reading from chapter nineteen, verse six. Multiplying countermeasure."

Another line of black appeared – this time, one wide enough to swallow Nightmare Moon completely. The dark void of the attack was large enough to carve a shallow trench in the road below, despite being centred at eye-height.

However, it still missed its target, who had turned into mist and scattered in all directions before Index had finished casting.

* * *

Kuroko turned to the others. "You need to get out of here. Now."

Twilight, who had been staring at the battle in steadily escalating horror, blinked and looked over at Kuroko. "Huh?"

"I said you need to go!" Kuroko snapped. "Human beings shouldn't be anywhere near a battle like this!"

She reached over to grab Twilight's hand, at the same time turning her head to get a good look at the girl Fluttershy had identified as Index. She had no idea what was going on – a recurring theme tonight – but the only person Kuroko knew with beam-type attacks anywhere near this strong was the #4, and Kuroko wasn't about to try her luck against a Level 5. Still, she needed to be able to give an accurate description to Anti-Skill. Whatever countermeasures they employed would need to be tailored specifically to this esper.

But, as her eyes focused, trying to take in every detail of the girl in the white costume, something impossible happened.

At the edges of her vision, Kuroko thought that she saw _something_ moving around inside the black cracks that surrounded Index like barbed wire.

She didn't see it in any detail. Indeed, she suddenly realised that the thought of seeing it any more clearly filled her with utter, irrational panic.

At the same time came another realisation: her instincts were _screaming_ at her; telling her something that was as simple as it was unscientific.

 _Do not leave the safety of the third dimension._

Then, one last realisation. At some point, Index's head had moved to fix its soulless gaze in her direction.

Fluttershy screamed.

Everyone whirled around at once, and saw immediently what had her so frightened. Nightmare Moon's mist form had wrapped itself around Fluttershy's head. Somewhat surreally, the spear of mortal pain was there as well – the 'handle' of the spear was sticking out of the mist-cloud, the 'head' still refusing to relinquish its hold on its target.

The spider she was riding reacted badly to Fluttershy's panic – it 'reared' up on four of its back legs. Fluttershy's screaming went up an octave, but she managed to grab on and stay on her arachnid steed. Applejack, still out cold, was thrown clear.

Index's emotionless eyes took in the scene. "Enemy is repeating tactic. Countermeasure remains the same. _Reclaim this world, χά-_ ack!"

Index's mouth let out a surprisingly human cry of pain, which was almost certainly due to how the kitten on her head had sunk its claws into the flesh below.

 _Get out of here, nice lady!_ The kitten seemed to yowl. _I'll hold her off!_

Index's hand swiped upwards in an attempt to dislodge the kitten from her skull, but her hand just brushed past it without harm. It too was under the protection of the Walking Church.

Realising that they had been granted precious seconds to act in, those around Fluttershy all tried to get her away from the cloud of mist around her head.

Twilight tried scooping the mist away with a forcefield, but the mist was too fast – it kept moving out of the way.

Rarity focused her magic, hoping that some of the mist still counted as the clothing it once was – no good.

Touma got up and swiped at the cloud with his right hand. Just like with Twilight, the mist swiftly floated out of his reach, his fingers only brushing against the spear of light still embedded in it. The spear shattered, but the cloud remained around Fluttershy's head.

Kuroko glanced back and forth between Index and Fluttershy, caught in the ancient dilemma of knowing that she had to do _something_ , but not having the first idea as to what.

Index began speaking again, drawing Kuroko's attention back to her. Index spoke a long, almost melodic string of foreign words, only one of which Kuroko actually recognised – 'Baset'. The kitten on Index's head became quiet and still. And with that, Index's eyes refocused on the cloud of mist around Fluttershy's head.

Kuroko's brain decided that it was fed up with all this high-end thinking, and fell back to old patterns. She swiped a hand across her inner thigh, causing the nails strapped there to disappear as she touched them.

Instantaneously, the nails reappeared.

Bent, discoloured, and warped, black lightning sparking between them and the cracks around Index.

Each one reappeared in a random location around Index.

 _Not a single one anywhere near where she had sent it._

Index's mouth, that empty voice speaking once more. " _Reclaim this world, χάος._ "

 **-BOOM!-**

* * *

It took Kuroko several seconds to remember that Index's attack didn't make a -boom- noise.

* * *

She was wreathed in lightning from head to toe, looking to all the world like the second coming of Zeus.

Sparks jumped between locks of tea-coloured hair. Kuroko's phone clutched in one hand, electricity playing over its surface.

For some reason, Touma had jumped behind the spider at the sight of her, sweating bullets.

"Kuroko, come on!" Misaka said, lowering her arm. "What was the point of leaving you behind if you're just going to arrive before me and get killed by someone else?! That's it! Next time I'm just going to leave you tied and gagged on your bed!"

Kuroko had just stared down a death to some force she could barely comprehend, one incident in a long string of a very stressful events. Nonetheless, the words popped into her mouth without so much as a beat.

"Oh, but if it's Sissy that's tying me up then I don't mind at all~"

"Don't make this weird!" Misaka glanced over at the girls huddled around the giant spider, an unknown foe before her, and felt more than a little _deja vu_.

Misaka glanced over at Index's body. She had just fired a fully-fledged raingun attack at that white-gold nun – with those black cracks around her, simultaneously absorbing all light and bleeding into the space around them, she had taken no chances. No matter what level of protection she had up, her target should at least have been knocked off her feet by the shockwave. Despite that, Index was still hanging unnaturally in mid-air, her Walking Church not even showing a scorch mark.

"Error. Reading from chapter ten, verse sixteen. Mana analysis inconclusive. Symbolism a 76% match for god of thunder, Thor. Preparing appropriate countermeasures." Index said, still speaking in a toneless, dead-sounding voice. Her eyes didn't move in the slightest.

"So, who's this freak? Did some idiot go and build another cyborg esper?" Misaka thumbed at Index. "And where'd that Moon-crazy lady go?"

Nightmare Moon.

Yes, where had Nightmare Moon gone?

Wait.

Wasn't she still wrapped around Fluttershy's head?

Kuroko whirled around.

While everyone had been distracted by the arrival of Misaka, Nightmare Moon had moved. No longer tightly wrapped around Fluttershy's head, she was free to spread out. She had reformed on the other side of the group from Index. Nightmare Moon stood straight, her Nightmare Mist spreading out like a wall of darkness behind her.

"Your queen thanks you for your service, distractions." She said condescendingly.

The corner of her mouth turned up into yet another arrogant smirk. "However, I have no more use for you. My true servants are on their way."

* * *

"Ready to give up yet, Princess?"

Princess Celestia's gaze answered for her, defiant and unbowed.

It didn't quite match the situation she had found herself in, though. She was surrounded on all sides by the Nightmare Forces, hovering in a small sphere of air that was completely encased by thick, dark smoke.

Her horn was flaring brightly, as it had been for several minutes now. The magical glow was a bright gold, the same colour as the sphere keeping the Nightmare Forces at bay. The strain of keeping that barrier up was obvious, however – she was sweating so much that her fur was sticking to her body in ugly clumps.

Celestia gritted her teeth. Casting two spells at once was far more difficult than casting both of them separately, and casting two spells as difficult as her anti-Nightmare spell and a teleport at the same time was beyond even her. But if she dropped her protective spell, the Nightmare Forces would be on her in an instant. The instant they dragged her into the realm of dreams, the battle would be over and she would have lost.

There was no way out, but she had to hold on. She had to give her little ponies as much time as possible to deal with Nightmare Moon on her own. Once her minions joined her –

There was a sudden change on the air. The blurred outlines of faces in the smoke all turned to face the same direction.

"Do you feel that?" "What's going on?" "Our queen needs us!"

Celestia's eyes widened. "No!" She somehow found the strength to expand her magical shield, pushing back against the Nightmare Forces. "You haven't captured me yet!"

"She's right…" "The queen will be so mad with us if we let her go free…"

"Go free?" One of the smoke faces scoffed. "Free to go where? Its not like she can leave the moon."

"Oh yeah…" "That's right! She's locked up just like our queen was!" "Why were we even trying to capture her in the first place?"

"If you leave me up here, I…" Celestia hesitated, frantically trying to think of a threat. "I'll destroy everything! Every part of your kingdom on the moon!"

"Big deal." The same scoffing voice from before said. "Our queen promised us a new kingdom on Earth anyway."

Celestia couldn't see exactly which face was talking, but she could _hear_ the smirk in its voice. "Have fun up here all by yourself. Maybe we'll send someone to check on you… once every two hundred years!"

The smoke around her broke out into mocking laughter. As one, the entire mass surged upwards in the direction of the planet.

"No!" Celestia cried, flying upwards, trying to stay with them, but she ran hard and fast into the seal, purple-black sparks flying as the magic stopped her from proceeding. "Come back here!"

"See you later, Princess!"

As one, the Nightmare Forces vanished, as they allowed themselves to be taken by the call of Nightmare Moon…

* * *

"Lay down on ground and put hands behind head."

Dozens of robotic suits with oil-drum heads began to pour out of the connecting streets, surrounding the entire scene.

"Oh, yeah." Misaka said. "I forgot to mention: I kinda ran into Anti-Skill on the way here. Getting past them was what took me so long to get here."

Nightmare Moon placed a hand on her face. "Cockroaches. Everywhere I go, more cockroaches…"

"Battlefield situation has significantly changed." Index's eyes glanced at what could be seen of the powered suits behind the Nightmare Mist. "Reassessing."

"Last warning! Ground, down, now!" The voice of the Anti-Skill lady blared out.

* * *

The Nightmare Forces were vicious monsters of smoke and terrible dreams. They were blindly loyal to their mistress, Nightmare Moon.

The _ _ were vicious monsters of smoke and terrible dreams. They were blindly loyal to their mistress, _ _.

The Nightmare Forces were vicious monsters of smoke and terrible dreams. They were blindly loyal to their mistress, Nightmare Moon.

* * *

Nightmare Moon looked up at the sky. "Finally."

Cries of confusion came from the Powered Suits as the Anti-Skill officers piloting them took notice of the nearby skyscrapers disappearing under a wave of dark smoke.

"Now, my subjects!" Nightmare Moon gestured around her. "Sink them all into the realm of nightmare!"

Rarity found her voice. It had been stuck in her throat, along with her heart. " _More_ smoky nightmare-themed minions?" She let out a slightly forced giggle. "Darling, I understand working to a theme, but you could stand to include a little more variety in your repertoire."

The smoke rolled forward, enveloping everything. Due to the way they completely blocked sight, it felt like the very edge of the world was moving towards them.

The Powered Suits sprayed Sponge Dust at the new threat. It didn't help. Just like the Shadowbolts, they were smoke rather than mist.

The smoke enveloped the lines of Powered Suits standing around the battlefield. Whenever they disappeared from sight, the sound of pistons hissing and the impact of metal on metal sounded out. Each and every one of the suits were collapsing to the ground.

Twilight saw what was happening and raised a forcefield around her and her friends. If she only had to worry about the Nightmare Forces, this might have worked. Unfortunately, Nightmare Moon was not about to let them escape so easily, and shattered the forcefield with a single impact of her Nightmare Mist.

Kuroko spun on the spot and grabbed the first person in reach – which happened to be Rarity. With no time to waste, she teleported out with her one passenger.

Touma tried to fend off the smoke creatures with his right hand, but a single point of defence was little help against a foe that attacked from all directions. In short order, each remaining member of that small group had been enveloped by the smoke and fallen to the ground unconscious.

"Reassessment of battlefield completed." Index's voice rang out. "Priority target remains the same. Secondary targets carry the curse of endless nightmares. Countering with the blessing of the spider woman, Asibikaashi."

Underneath her floating body, another blood-red circle appeared, with lines criss-crossing the inside that resembled a spider's web.

"Five seconds until the spell _Sulphur rain will scorch the earth._ "

* * *

 _The child pulled harder on their magic._

 _They were at their limit already – they could_ feel _the strain on their soul – but they had to keep going. They were being watched. Evaluated. Judged._

 _The child knew that progressing past here was dangerous._

 _They also knew that not doing so was accepting failure._

 _The child pulled harder._

 _They could feel immediently that something had gone wrong. Magic wasn't supposed to flow this easily, or this swiftly._

 _The child tried to stop, but their magic didn't listen. It just flowed out without end._

 _The child could hear panicked screaming. They could feel their parents buried underneath the flow of supernatural power, their cries suddenly cut off._

 _The child couldn't stop, no matter how badly they wanted to. Their magic just gushed out uncontrolled, like a burst water main._

" _He-help!"_

 _No one came at the child's shout._

 _Why was no-one coming?_

 _There…_

 _There had to be someone who could help…_

 _Right?_

* * *

{What's going on?!} Saten leaned over Uiharu's shoulder, squinting at the tiny screen. She'd been asking minor variations on that question for a while now – the tiny screen was far too small for two people to watch together, especially something as chaotic as this battle.

{I… some kind of sleeping gas, maybe…? Misaka seems to still be standing…} Uiharu frantically worked the controls on the console. It's display showed Misaka still in the fight, giving off sparks like a Van de Graaff generator. That said, while she was still upright, she was wincing, her teeth were clenched, and one hand clutched her head. The dark smoke that had just arrived on the scene was swirling around her, like it was somehow attracted to her.

Uiharu flicked a joystick, and the view on the screen jumped to that of a different camera. {Wait, that can't be right…}

{What can't be right?} Saten pressed her cheek up against Uiharu's in order to get a better view. Uiharu's face flushed at the close contact.

{T-the…} She stammered out. {The Anti-Skill officers…}

{Yeah?} Saten squinted at the screen. The adults in powered suits had joined the unconscious children lying on the ground, their heads presumably stuck in dreamland. {What about them?}

{They're operating those suits remotely!}

{They're – wait, but –} Saten drew her head back, blinking stupidly.

{I know!} Uiharu fretted. {The actual Anti-Skill officers are in a building halfway across the city!}

{But…} Saten gaped. What kind of Ability could knock someone out, when they were on the other end of a camera and a microphone?

* * *

 _-Pant, pant-_

" _Stop running and let me kill you, you brat!"_

 _There was a man with a knife chasing after a small child._

 _He was yelling death threats for all the world to hear. This was not occurring in some back alley street. Just behind the man were the front gates to the local kindergarten._

 _Passersby would look up in alarm at the violent shouting, but their expressions would change completely when they saw who he was yelling at. Somehow, the perfectly natural response of concern and worry would turn into devilish glee._

 _The child's face was streaked with tears as the chase continued. Their legs burned, their lungs struggled to draw breath. The only reason they had lasted this long was because the man with the knife was so drunk he could barely stand upright._

 _All the child could think of was those expressions of delight. The observers, adults and children both, were silently egging the man on._

 _Why?_

 _What could they have possibly done to deserve this?_

 _Mama… Papa… please… help…!_

* * *

Saten rocked back on her heels, blinking stupidly. Uiharu cradled a phone receiver between her shoulder and her head, her hands still frantically working the game console.

After another few seconds, Uiharu shook her head, dropping the phone. {It's no good. Anti-Skill hung up. They're too busy escalating to talk to me.}

{What about the biometrics?}

{Huh?}

{Those remote-operation pods monitor their occupant's conditions, right? Maybe we can use those to figure out what's wrong with the pilots!}

Uiharu bit her lower lip. She didn't actually have clearance for that information, and she didn't have time to request it through normal channels. She would be in serious trouble if she was caught hacking an Anti-Skill facility, especially when it was in crisis mode.

On the tiny screen, Misaka desperately dived to the side to avoid a thrust of mist from the black-and-purple woman. It hadn't been a serious attack, Uiharu could tell, because she was far too occupied in exchanging fire with the girl in the white nun costume.

While Misaka staggered to her feet, the while nun and the black-and-purple lady threw countless different attacks at each other… Uiharu didn't know Abilities could be so versatile!

(She had already run their faces and Abilities through Academy City's Bank. No hits. Whoever those two were, they were not officially registered as Espers.)

Misaka reached into a pocket for a coin, but the smoke swirled around her even tighter around her, and she dropped it to clutch her head with both hands.

…

Uiharu loaded up her hacking toolkit and set to work.

* * *

 _The child walked down a dirt road, alone._

 _Today had been a busy day at school. The child wanted nothing more than to lay down and forget the homework due tomorrow, but their parents would never allow that. They were raising the child to be hard-working, and they weren't going to slack off in their parenting by allowing their child to slack off in their school work._

 _The child pushed open the front gate, calling out that they were home._

 _No one answered. That was weird. Normally one of their parents would be waiting to greet them when they got home._

… _why were the police here? Why did they have their hats clutched under one arm?_

 _Why was granny crying so much?_

* * *

Anti-Skill's digital security was top-of-the-line, but it wasn't for nothing that she was known as Academy City's gatekeeper.

Slipping in through a back-door she'd left on a… previous visit, she accessed the biometric data on the Anti-Skill pilots. She herself couldn't make any sense of it, but the software was smart enough to list possible ailments in order of probability. And at the top of the list, far about the other possible causes, sat…

{Nightmares?} Saten leaned in close again.

Uiharu switched to the feed from another pod. Same prediction. A third pod showed the same. On and on down the line, the computers were all receiving data from their pilots consistent with distressed REM sleep.

{What kind of power could do that?} Saten fretted. She was wringing her hands, stress etched into her face.

Fortunately, Judgement training actually covered this sort of situation. {Well, it can't just be the visual stimulus of the smoke, or we'd be affected too. Misaka seems to be resisting it, which means it's probably some variant of Mental Out with weird range parameters. Like… maybe it only affects those that are 'engulfed' by the smoke?}

{Wait, so once you're clear of the smoke, you can wake up normally?}

{Sorry, but no. All of the pods are trying to awaken their occupants with automatic injections of adrenalin, but that's having no effect. Their brains have been somehow tricked into staying asleep, like some kind of nightmare coma.}

Uiharu change her console's view back to the fight. The smoke had mostly abandoned Misaka to swirl around the nun-girl instead. It wasn't having much luck getting close, because the black cracks around her seemed to suck in any smoke that got close.

{So, if the nightmare they're having was disrupted, they'd wake up?}

{…maybe? I don't really know enough to say– what are you doing?}

Saten was rummaging through Uiharu's closet, pulling out items as she found them. {Artificial telekinesis toy… scent recorder… yes! This is everything I need!}

{What are you doing?}

{The battle's happening up near that entrance to the underground mall, right?}

{Yes, but –}

{Oh, and I'll need to borrow your mobile. The moon lady kinda broke mine. Thanks!}

{Saten, wait! Come back!}

* * *

 _The child was falling._

 _Falling from such a great height._

 _They couldn't fly. They'd never been able to fly._

 _The wind stole the scream from their lungs as the child plummeted towards their doom._

* * *

{This is really, really dangerous!}

{Come on, Uiharu. I saw as well as you did that the fight has moved on down the street.}

{Only because they ran out of buildings to throw at each other!}

Saten ran down the street (which indeed was missing several buildings), an armful of consumer electronics in her arms and Uiharu's mobile phone held with a shoulder. Even while running, she was opening the various toys and appliances up and inserting them into each other in a way that looked haphazard, but at the same time, the devices fit together perfectly.

{What are you even doing?!}

{Have you heard about Indian Poker? I won't blame you if you haven't, it's pretty new. There are plans on the net for building a machine out of Academy City's consumer tech that can record and playback dreams!}

{Wait, really?}

{Yeah! Lucky for me you owned all the required parts!}

{Wow! You've really been recording your dreams?}

{…}

{…}

{…}

{Er, Saten, you have built one of these before, right? You know whether or not they even work, right?}

{Oh hey look! There's the battle!}

{Saten!}

{Sorry, gotta go! Bye!}

Saten loosened her shoulder grip on the phone, causing it to fall to noisily fall to the ground. With her arms quite full, she had no way to just end the call and pocket the phone.

 _It looks like some old episode of_ InuYasha, _crossed with_ Gundum! Saten thought, looking at the deadly light-show that was the battle.

Thick black smoke lay on the ground, swirling as though with purpose. Occasionally, Saten could glimpse small lights floating around in that smoke, always in a pair so they looked like glowing red eyes.

From her position further down the street, Saten could see three figures still upright. Nightmare Moon and that while-clothed nun girl were throwing attack after attack at each other, destroying large chunks of the landscape with every miss. Saten noted that Nightmare Moon kept repeating the same attacks in different ways, while the nun girl's attacks were completely different each time.

The figure that Saten actually wanted to win wasn't doing so well. Misaka was mostly ignored by the other two figures, but was still clutching one hand to her head, clearly in pain.

Every time she focused on Nightmare Moon, the smoke would swirl around her more swiftly, and Misaka would be forced to abandon her attack in pain.

When she turned her attention to the nun girl, her attacks had no effect. The nun girl would just glance at her and mutter something, then turn back to Nightmare Moon.

Saten swallowed. Seeing the vast amounts of power in play made her feel quite small.

Still. She'd come here for a reason. About half-way between where Saten was now and where the battle was taking place were several bodies laying splayed out on the ground. Amazingly, despite the destruction all around them, none of the people seemed to be hurt; although a giant spider was lying on the ground next to Fluttershy with grievous wounds. It seemed to have been intercepting attacks on her behalf.

Saten hands tightened their grip. She had to hurry.

The device she'd cobbled together looked kind of like a rice cooker with a narrow slot in the front. The buildings alongside the road had been reduced to rubble, but by divine providence Saten found an exposed power port that still worked. She plugged in her load and turned it on.

 _Come on, come on._ She prayed.

With agonising slowness, the small machine printed out a slip of plastic the size and thickness of a playing card.

A series of loud noises – -bang-s, -zap-s and -boom-s – caused her to flinch with the unwelcome reminder that she was working next to something that might as well have been a war-zone. A quick glance up the street reassured her that she hadn't been noticed yet.

With a handful of Indian Poker cards in hand, Saten ran back over to the unconscious figures and started laying down cards on their foreheads.

Once they had had a couple of seconds to 'set', she would randomly swap the cards around and peel off the outer plastic coating, causing the cards to release the recorded dreams via a technical process that Saten had barely glanced over.

 _Lets see what happens to your infinitely-looping videos when I stick pop-up ads in the middle of them!_

* * *

 _The officers looked over at the approaching child, then they all looked away. None of them seemed to want to look the child in the eye._

" _Granny?" The child's voice was hesitant, frightened._

 _The old woman's voice sounded a hundred years older than it had that morning. "Oooo… Oooooo…"_

 _She opened her mouth…_

" _I mean it, you walking disaster! You really are going to die!"_

 _All present turned around in shock._

 _There was a man chasing a young kid with a knife. The sight was so unexpected, everyone's mouths opened in shock._

 _Even as they watched, the kid tripped over a rock in the dirt road._

" _Finally got you, brat!" The man screamed. He straddled the kid, gripped his knife in both hands, and raised it up behind him, ready to swing down…_

 _Suddenly, however, his fingers went slack, and the knife fell. His whole body began to twitch. He looked down, shocked. There were two petal prongs with wires leading out of them, stabbing into the centre of his chest. He looked up again, tracing the wires with his eyes to the small gun-like device in the hands of one of the officers._

 _His body was already starting to fall over when another one of the officers crash-tackled him._

* * *

 _The child didn't even have the energy to cry anymore. The only energy they seemed to have left inside them was the endless fountain of magic that ignored all of their commands to stop._

 _The child had no idea how much time had passed. It felt like forever. With this much magic in the air, it might have been._

 _The light started to leave the child's eyes as a new thought occurred to them._

 _If they died, would the magic stop?_

 _Or would it continue on forever, their soul sealed inside their own corpse by–_

 _-BONK-_

 _The child suddenly started seeing stars that they were quite certain had nothing to do with the magic._

 _They rubbed their head and blinked the pain away. A short distance away, another child did the same._

 _The first child's mouth fell open. Had that other kid just fallen from the sky?_

 _Wait._

 _Had… had…_

 _Had the magic actually… stopped?_

* * *

 _The children all looked at each other with shock._

" _That wasn't what happened that day…"_

 _The realisation was almost simultaneous. "I'm dreaming!"_

* * *

The eyes of four teenagers suddenly shot open, and they all struggled to their feet.

{It worked!} Saten jumped in the air, fist raised.

{Saten?!} Misaka was surprised (and annoyed) to see her. {First Kuroko, now you?! If Uiharu parachutes into the middle of this battle, I'm quitting!}

"What?" Nightmare Moon took her eyes of Index to glance back at the group. "You people _again_? Do I have to rip the flesh from your very bones before you will stop bothering me?!"

"Reading from chapter 13, verse 12. Optimal strategy for defeating the enemy calculated."

Nightmare Moon actually rolled her eyes before turning back to Index. "You are _also_ beginning to try my patience."

Index did not respond, but the magic circles floating before her pulsed with power once again. From the cracks that surrounded Index came five different beams of pure white light. None of them hit Nightmare Moon, for none of them were aimed at her. Instead, they surrounded her like the bars of a cage, sealing her movements.

Several members of the Nightmare Forces were in the path of the beams, and they screamed as the light annihilated everything in its way.

Nightmare Moon didn't seem bothered at all, letting out an overly dramatic sigh. "For all the effort I put into corrupting them, the Nightmare Forces can't even serve as distractions against you."

But the corners of her mouth quickly moved up once again. "Fortunately, I have much better servants."

"Enemy is immobilised. Five seconds until the spell– warning."

Index's inhuman eyes suddenly widened, and the five beams of light abruptly cut off. There was a strange tension in her body like it was straining under a great weight.

"Reading from chapter 1, verse 13. Breach detected in internal defences."

* * *

The funny thing was, Index didn't have any memories from before a year ago. She didn't know why – she just remembered waking up one day, and realising that she knew everything about magic, and nothing about anything else.

She knew enough that when a pair of strange magicians began to pursue her, she could evade. She had no magic of her own beyond her Walking Church, but with only that she had evaded two magicians well out of her league. They had continued to chase her, and she had continued to run away.

The upshot of this was that Index's memories consisted of the contents of 103,000 grimoires and a years worth of running for her life. Between the corruptive influence of the grimoires and a 'lifetime' of fleeing, Index's sleeping moments were often filled with nightmares.

The perfect environment for a dream spirit like the Tantabus.

It wouldn't even need to try particularly hard – all it would need to do was lull her into the light trance its mistress preferred – the one _just_ within the realm of dreams. Tweak one of her more violent dreams, superimpose her night-time phantoms over its mistresses enemies, and the problem would take care of itself.

The spirit entered that mind filled with 103,000 books and memories of terrified flight.

The books promptly tore it to pieces.

* * *

In the outside world, Index's body lost all tension, and returned to looking like a puppet on strings. "Breach sealed. Intruding spirit destroyed."

Nightmare Moon was scowling again, a deeper and more furious scowl than before. "The Tantabus was one of my most useful servants." She said. "You will pay most dearly for its destruction."

Despite having said that, her head turned to look behind her at Twilight and the others. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of them, and she quickly turned to look at the Nightmare Forces instead. The smoke monsters were still swirling around Misaka and Index. "Well? What are you waiting for? Take care of them!"

With that she turned back to face Index, and a cacophony of light and noise began between the two as countless spells were exchanged once more.

While some remained to seal Misaka's actions, most of the Nightmare Forces advanced on the five teens – Twilight, Touma, Saten, Applejack and Fluttershy. Twilight, Touma and Saten all began to back up.

Applejack turned to face Twilight. "This migh' seem like a stupid question, but, uh… what in Sam Hill is goin' on? Last ah know, ah was gettin' in line for the pearly gates."

"Smoke monsters about to sink us into eternal nightmares. Again." Twilight hissed back.

"Ah." Applejack said, as though that had somehow made sense.

A scream sounded, off to their side. Feeling deja vu, Twilight looked over. Fluttershy had just discovered the devastated state her new spider friend was in. "Mr Spider!"

Applejack quickly looked between Fluttershy and the spider. "Wait, wha…? Never mind. This isn't the time, 'Shy!"

Applejack tried to pulled Fluttershy away, but the girl only clung tighter to the arachnid. "Mr Spider, how could someone do this to you?"

Twilight jumped as a hand appeared on her shoulder. Spinning around, she found Touma behind her. His face bore an expression of great seriousness, and he spoke words will the same gravity, gesturing wildly.

…unfortunately, those words were in Japanese.

Applejack glanced back at Twilight. "He says tha' if we can't run away, we hafta attack."

"Wait, what?!"

"He's askin' ya to cover him!"

"I… wait!"

Touma wasn't waiting. He put both feet to the ground and took off like a rocket.

With Touma running towards the Nightmare Forces and those forces flying towards him, it took only two seconds before they reached each other. The first member of the Forces spread itself outward, two 'arms' extended out as though inviting Touma to hug it.

Touma, for his part, clenched his right fist and punched the smoke monster right between the glowing dots that he guessed were eyes.

-Shatter-!

The black smoke disappeared, revealing a short, hairy man with Touma's fist pressed into his nose. He yelped as his nose made a -crunch- noise, and he was blown off his feet with the force of the punch.

Strangely, for the duration that Touma's hand was in contact with his body, the sound of nails on a chalkboard rang out just as it had when he had touched Twilight.

The other members of the Nightmare Forces seemed to draw back in surprise from that, allowing Touma the chance to run further forward. Their state of stupor did not last, however. After another five steps (and another two dispellings), the Forces regained their mental footing, and surged around him.

They would surround and envelope him, and he would be trapped in eternal nightmares, just as he had been before. His hand might have been able to remove their Mistress's 'blessings', but it wouldn't stop their curse if he wasn't touching himself. And if he did that, they had other ways to attack him.

It was a simple calculation. There was one of him and hundreds of the Nightmare Forces. Raw numbers would wear him down eventually.

The Nightmare Forces surged forwards…

…and, well, there isn't really an onomatopoeia for the sound smoke makes when it smashes into a forcefield.

Because, of course, it wasn't one versus hundreds.

Touma felt someone press their back up against his. He glanced over his shoulder, and found Twilight behind him.

It was five versus hundreds.

Touma's charge had attracted the attention of the Nightmare Forces, focusing it all onto him. Twilight had his back, using forcefields to keep the Forces from surrounding him. Ironically, by swarming Touma, the Forces had just gathered themselves in one place. This made the task of dispelling their smoke forms much easier.

* * *

One might think this left Applejack, Saten and Fluttershy with nothing to do. Such a thinker would be forgetting that Applejack already knew a way to deal with smoke creatures, and could somewhat speak Japanese. Some frantic shouting at Saten led Applejack to what she wanted: an emergency fire hose from one of the broken buildings. Even Academy City, the home of advanced technology, still sometimes resorted to pouring water on their fires.

With that, Applejack now had a weapon to use on the Nightmare Forces.

"Over here, ya overgrown dust bunnies!"

Some of the Nightmare Forces turned away from Touma to find a high-pressure water nozzle pointed squarely at them. Why this would be a problem for them didn't click until Saten opened up the valve and a huge stream of water was sent their way.

Applejack had aimed low, and so so only washed away the 'feet' of a few of the Forces. The sight of their fellows screaming in pain and flying away clued the Nightmare Forces in that that hose was an actual problem for them. They scattered whenever Applejack swung the nozzle in their direction.

* * *

Knowing that the girls had his back, Touma ran forward. If they got bogged down fighting the army, they would lose. Their only chance was to go straight for the general in command of that army.

( _And while I'm there, I can get an explanation out of Index as to what she's doing!_ The eternal optimist thought to himself.)

The ring of smoke monsters thickened in front of him as he ran, as if they were operating under the Doppler effect. That was fine by Touma. With Twilight keeping them off his back, he was free to sweep his hand back and forth as though he was removing cobwebs.

-Shatter- -Shatter- -Shatter- -Shatter- -Shatter-…

* * *

"Umph." Twilight grunted. While the increased density of opponents made it easier to dispel them, it also meant they could bring more force to bear on her forcefield. Despite her best efforts, it was starting to form cracks.

-Shatter- -Shatter- -Crack- -Shatter- -Crack- -Crack- -Shatter- -Shatter-…

 _Come on, Sparkle!_

Nightmare Moon was busy with her battle against Index. If they could fight their way through to her… She just had to keep it together!

-Crack- -Crack- -Shatter- -Crack-…

 _Come on!_

-Shatter-!

"No!"

The forcefield was down. With their obstruction destroyed, the Nightmare Forces surged forward.

A great wind blew through the area, strong enough to force Twilight to close her eyes.

…

…

 _Huh?_

Twilight opened her eyes.

The Nightmare Forces were gone (apart from the ones Touma had dispelled, who were lying on the ground unconscious.) Hovering in the air in their place was…

"R-rainbow?"

"What's the matter, Twilight?" Rainbow mocked. "I thought you were going to handle everything by yourself?"

"Yeah, that… didn't work out." Twilight shakily got to her feet. "What did you…?"

"Smoke's a kind of weather too." Rainbow shrugged. "…though you _do_ have to stretch the meaning of the word 'weather'. Just a bit."

Twilight shook her head as if to clear it. Held gingerly under each of Rainbow's arms was… "Rarity? Pinkie Pie?"

"Hello, dear. My apologies for my brief absence. That young lady – Kuroko, I believe? She was quite insistent that we depart with all haste." Rarity nodded, delicately freeing herself from Rainbow's grip. "By the time I'd separated from her, I was already blocks away! Fortunately, I saw Rainbow Dash flying though the sky shortly afterwards and managed to flag her down."

"Hi Twilight! Sorry I took so long to get here." Pinkie dropped down and bounced on the balls of her feet. "Turns out there's no Pinkie Sense for 'your friends are that way', so I just had to jump up and down until Rainbow found me!"

"Wasn't hard." Rainbow muttered. "The cheerleading outfit kinda stands out."

"Yes dear, why _are_ you wearing that?" Rarity asked.

"Because I was cheering on my new friend, duh!"

"That actually doesn't explain–"

"Chaaaarrrrggggeeeee!"

"Pinkie wait! Come back here!"

Pinkie put both feet to the ground and bounded towards Nightmare Moon, smacking Touma on the back as she passed him. Touma blinked at the appearance of another weirdo, but ran faster to keep up with her.

Nightmare Moon was busy using large chunks of building to block and deflect Index's most recent spell (masses of darkness the size of baseballs that gave off an aura of death and decay). This would be their best shot – there was nothing in their way, and their target was distracted.

The pair charged forward –

"Don't you touch our mistress!"

Out of nowhere, the Nightmare Forces reappeared.

"Wait, what? I swept all that smoke away!"

"Look at the ground, Rainbow! That fight between Index and Nightmare Moon has torn up the asphalt! They're slinking back to the battlefield in the cracks in the ground, where you can't get at them!"

"What? That's cheating!"

The others immediently resumed their fight against the Nightmare Forces, but they were out of position. Even Rainbow Dash wouldn't be able to fight her way through the Forces to the pair in time.

Touma was flat out. Pinkie was keeping up, her feet seeming to bounce off the ground as she moved. They were so close! Just a little bit more!

Pinkie put a hand on Touma's back. "Don't worry, I have a good feeling about this!"

With surprising strength, she pushed hard, sending Touma flying forward…

* * *

 _People need to stop flinging me around like a pinball!_

Still, Touma knew what he had to do.

He clenched his fist, and punched Nightmare Moon in the back of the head.

The sound of nails scrapping down a chalkboard rang out.

The sound of glass shattering did not.

"Did you forget, you simple-minded fool?"

Nightmare Moon spun around, driving a knee deep into Touma's gut. The force of the blow lifted Touma off the ground, sending him flying.

" _I'm real._ "

* * *

Rainbow blinked, staring at the sight. One of the Nightmare Forces wriggled in her grasp. "What was the point of that?"

"Apparently, he can dispel magical effects by punching them." Twilight blocked the attack of one of the Forces with another forcefield, then suddenly angled the field down to slam the creature into the ground.

"Seriously?" Rainbow slammed the head of the smoke monster she was holding into one of its comrades. For some reason, this seemed to stun both of them. "That's actually awesome. …sucks that it didn't work, though."

"…"

"…"

Twilight didn't know how to continue from there, so the pair just continued to fight in awkward silence.

The battle was waging even as they stood there, but Twilight found it hard to care. She had the feeling that if she didn't say something here, she would never have the chance to say it.

So she gathered up all her pride, and set it to one side. "…thank you."

"Huh?" Rainbow blinked. "What for?"

Twilight nervously rubbed her arm. "For coming back."

A slow smile crept over Rainbow's face. "Heh. As if I'd leave you guys hanging. I know you'd all be doomed without me."

"Oi."

"Now come on!" Rainbow jumped back into the air, grinning widely. "I wanna punch Nightmare Moon too!"

* * *

"No, no, no, no!"

With every word, Celestia slammed herself into the shimmering field of magic before her.

"No, no, no, no!"

This couldn't be it! It couldn't have gone this wrong!

She had been hoping for this day for a thousand years. The day when her sister would once again stand before her, and Celestia would have a chance to _explain_ , and they could just be _sisters_ again…

But Luna hadn't listened. She'd clamped her ears and her heart shut, and had refused all chance of reconciliation.

The flapping of Celestia's wings slowed, and she slowly came to a halt in mid-air.

…was this her fault?

She had known this day was coming, ever since that prophecy had been made. She had once borne the Element of Magic – in the time she had had, she could easily have prepared a trap even her sister couldn't have escaped from.

But that would mean giving up.

Celestia's head drooped, and her ears swivelled back.

That would mean never again hearing one of Luna's clever quips. Never watching her arrange the stars so beautifully. Never see her tenderly ease a nightmare, rather than cause one.

Celestia had been without her sister for an entire millennium. She was not going to waste her one chance to get her back.

…only she had.

She hadn't done more than say her sister's name, and Luna had shut her out of her life forever.

Celestia slammed a hoof into the surface of the seal. It wasn't fair…!

* * *

It should be noted that, despite both being called the same thing, the 'magic' of Zecora's world and the 'magic' of Index's world did not operate under the same rules.

In one, magic was an energy created from refining the life force produced from one's soul. Apart from preventing this refinement of life force, there was no way to prevent the use of magic. The effects of any given spell depended entirely on how the world perceived its casting.

In the other, magic was an energy that suffused one's entire being. It could be given or taken away in it's entirety, which would render that person free from magic until that power was retrieved. The effects of a spell depended on fundamental rules that did not change.

You see? Completely different.

…well, actually, not quite.

In both worlds, magic was an 'energy'.

Keeping that in mind, you could say there were three kinds of spells.

There were spells whose effects had already finished, spells that drew their energy from the world around them, and spells that drew their energy from their caster.

So, in both worlds, there were spells that required a constant flow of power from their caster.

Because it worked the same way in both worlds, such a flow could cross between them without interruption.

But what would happen if someone's spell had its upkeep disrupted, even from a different context?

Say, because Imagine Breaker was pressed into the back of that person's head?

* * *

-Crack-

Celestia's head shot up like a bullet.

-Crack- -crack- -crack-

Before her disbelieving eyes, cracks were appearing in the shimmering surface of the seal. Then, all at once…

 **-Shatter-**

The seal broke into a thousand glimmering pieces, each of which quickly faded into nothing.

Celestia's mouth fell open. How…? What had just…? Without the Elements to aid her, was her sister's seal really this weak?

Had… had her little ponies really done it? Had they managed to…?

The exhaustion laying heavily upon Celestia seemed to evaporate all at once. Her wings snapped open, and she surged into the starry sky.

The moon and the Earth were so far apart that it would take even Rainbow Dash weeks to fly between the two. Mind, Rainbow Dash couldn't magically move her destination over to her.

Celestia's hooves hit the dirt outside the Golden Oak library like a meteor impact.

"Princess!" "What's that? The princess is here?!" "Princess! We were so worried!"

Celestia managed a reassuring smile as she was swarmed by Ponyville ponies. "I'm glad to see you're all alright, my little ponies…" She was going to ask them what had happened, but they crowded in around her, their cries drowning her out. "Please, there's no reason to worry…"

The crowd did not quieten. Celestia bit the inside of her cheek. _I need to calm them, quickly… ah, of course._

Celestia lifted her head to the sky, golden magic blazing along her horn as she cast the spell that had earned her her Cutie Mark. Far above everypony's head, the night sky flipped around to make way for the day sky.

It was a quick, unceremonious affair, not at all in the spirit of the Summer Sun Celebration, but now was not the time for such things. Her subjects gasped, then stomped their hooves and cheered as the sun came out.

Celestia noted that the sky did not change itself back to night. Wherever her sister was, Eternal Night did not seem to still be one of her priorities.

"Princess!"

A small reptilian form pushed his way through the crowd around her. Celestia lowered her head down to ground level. "Spike?"

"Princess!" Spike gasped, wringing his tiny dragon claws. "Twilight went looking for you, but she hasn't come back. Do you know where she's gone?"

Twilight was missing? Celestia's heart beat faster. "I saw her, but we were…" She grimaced. "…separated."

"Bu-but then… where could she be? I-is she safe? Is she still in Ponyville? Is she trapped somewhere, a-and she can't get out? Does Nightmare Moon have her? Is she hurt?!"

Spike's imagination was clearly getting away from him, but his worries were far too plausible for Celestia's comfort. "Spike, take a letter."

"…or maybe she's trapped in a dark pit, surrounded by viscous monsters!"

"Spike!" Celestia stomped a hoof. The ponies around her took a step back. Spike jumped a whole foot in the air, which was very impressive for someone his height. "Take a letter."

Spike blinked stupidly at her for a second, before quickly dashing back inside the library to grab quill and paper. "R-ready?"

"'Twilight.'" Celestia dictated. "'I'm coming.'"

The scratching of Spike's quill abruptly halted. "That's it?"

"That's it." Celestia confirmed. "Now send it, Spike!"

"A-alright." Spike rolled up the scroll and blew green flames over it, turning it into shimmering ashes that moved through the sky with purpose. "But what was the point of –"

Just as dramatically as Celestia had arrived, she left – her wings carrying her through the sky as she chased after the magical ash.

* * *

Princess Celestia was the ruler of the magical land of Equestria. She was kind, wise, and powerful, and was the teacher of Twilight Sparkle.

_ _ was the ruler of the _ _ _. She was kind, wise, and powerful, and was the _ of _ _.

Princess Celestia was the ruler of the magic cabal King Arthur's Horse. She was kind, wise, and powerful, and was the mentor of Twilight Sparkle.

* * *

"Twilight, I… what?"

That shout suddenly came to a halt in mid-sentence.

Misaka glanced up. The smoke that was still swirling around her form had slowed at the sound of the shout, so the strain on her body was reduced.

There was a new person who had arrived at the scene. She was floating gently in mid-air, as if it weren't a strange thing at all to be ignoring gravity. Her hair was so long it reached down to her ankles, and it shimmered with all the colours of an aurora. She was tall; taller than even Nightmare Moon, and she was wearing a beautiful white dress that was accented with gold jewellery.

To her slight surprise, Misaka found herself pointing a finger up at her. "Oh no you don't! There are too many characters in this scene already!"

"Stiyl, didn't you kill that woman already? And… is that _Index_?!"

A freakishly tall red-headed priest and a lady with lopsided jeans ran onto the scene.

Misaka's right eye twitched.

* * *

Chaos ensued.

With so many fighters for 'good', one would think that the battle would come to a swift end.

In fact, that line of thinking was backwards.

There were too many fighters. Even if they were comrades who had trained together for years, they all stood at different positions around their targets. With the kind of powerful attacks in play, the issue of friendly fire was hardly a trivial one. That caused them to hesitate in their attacks, allowing their foes to employ _their_ wide-area attacks.

Worse, not all of them were fighting for the same 'good'. Each of them knew different things about the people involved in the events of tonight, and had different intentions for them.

{Wait, you?! When did you get here, idiot?}

{She noticed me! Retreat!}

{Oh no you don't! If the world is going to end tonight I'm going to beat you into the ground before it goes!}

…like that, yes.

And even when pre-existing grudges did not exist, most of the people tonight had never met before. Celestia might have been willing to afford Misaka the benefit of the doubt, but she would not be given the same courtesy by Stiyl, and so on.

In a battle like this, that lack of trust and cooperation might be more dangerous than any actual opponent.

That said…

* * *

"Warning. Reading from chapter three, verse one. Battle has escalated beyond predetermined limitations. Beginning wide-scale obliteration spell 'Sodom and Gomorrah'."

Nobody heard this extremely dangerous statement from Index. It wasn't that nobody was listening, it was just how chaotic the battle had become. The noise of so many simultaneous fights were drowning out her words, and she made no effort to be heard over the din.

However, there wasn't a single person on the battlefield who missed what happened next.

Index lifted her arms up high like she was giving praise to some unseen force. High in the sky, a star directly overhead grew brighter.

And brighter.

And brighter.

And brighter, until it suddenly it was too bright to look at.

"Um. What's that?" Rainbow tilted her head back so as to look up, but was stopped as someone jumped onto her back and clamped their hands over her eyes. Pain flared as weight was placed on her busted ribs.

"Don't look!"

Judging by the shout, it was Pinkie who had jumped on her back.

"What? Why not?" Rainbow asked, trying unsuccessfully to pry Pinkie's hands off her face. "Also, that hurts! Get off!"

"Don't look!" Pinkie repeated. Rainbow could feel Pinkie shiver on her back. Whether from fear or the Pinkie Sense, Rainbow couldn't tell. "It's bad." Pinkie said. "It's really, really bad, Dashie."

Normally Rainbow would object to the cutesy nickname, but she was too busy worrying about the situation overhead. You didn't need to be Pinkie Pie to know that that was an attack spell on the way down.

(Well, it could have been some weird science weapon, Rainbow supposed, but the point was they were all in big trouble.)

Pinkie let go of Rainbow when when Rainbow stopped looking up, so Rainbow looked down to see how the others were reacting.

Twilight was busy yelling at the others not to look up as well. The Princess and the girl with the sword had both switched to attacking the nun, the Princess with bursts of white-hot flame and the swordswoman with impossibly-fast sword strikes.

Neither was making any headway – the distorted space was causing most of the attacks to disappear outright, and even the rare attack that made it through was being soaked up by that white-gold habit like it was nothing more than a water balloon.

The kid who could punch magic in the face was busy helping the others against the Nightmare Forces…

Rainbow set her jaw. "Pinkie! Is that thing up there a magic thing or a science thing?"

"Err…" Pinkie's voice sounded unhelpfully uncertain. "Well, only three of my fingers are itching, so magic thing, I guess?"

Rainbow could feel a strange heat start to bear down on her from above. "Pinkie!"

"Magic thing!" Pinkie's voice was much more sure this time. "Absol-definite-lutely!"

"Good enough!" Rainbow tilted her body down and dived.

* * *

Touma, meanwhile, had given up trying to figure out was was going on anymore. There was simply too many people running around and yelling, and nobody who was doing so in Japanese.

Instead, he'd settled into a nice rhythm – the people who tried to kill him or trap him in his darkest nightmares, he'd punch in the face.

They only person this hadn't worked on so far was Misaka, and she was forced to switched targets after he jumped further into the melee to escape her.

Whenever he punched one of the smaller smoke monsters, they would turn into another normal-looking person and stay down on the ground, stupefied. Now, though, Index seemed to have done something new. Everyone was still yelling, but now their yelling was focused on her. The hairs on the back of Touma's neck were standing up, and an oppressive pressure was building in the air.

Though surrounded by enemies, Touma risked a look upwards, shielding his eyes from the glare with his right hand. The sky was lit once again – not with the sun, but with something much brighter. Something that was getting brighter even as he watched. It felt to Touma less like it was getting more powerful and more like it was getting closer.

Without thinking about it, his gaze shifted to the hand in front of his face. _I don't know what that thing is, but something tells me that I really shouldn't let it reach the ground. But by the time I can reach it, it will have already enveloped most of the buildings in Academy City!_

That thought, that that light could easily envelope the entire city, had no basis in logic. Instead, basic human instinct seemed to be screaming that information at him.

He tore his gaze from the sky and look at at the fighting going on around him. _I need some way of getting up there –_

That thought was interrupted by a pair of slender arms wrapping around him from behind and lifting him skywards.

* * *

Rainbow tried to yell something on the way up, not realising that Touma couldn't understand a word she was saying.

The ground grew more and more distant as they rose into the air together, racing towards the intensely bright spell above them like some cosmic ceiling.

Their guts told them this was stupid, that they should move in any direction but up, they needed to get away now. The spell above them would bring only death and ruin.

Rainbow's flight slowed, just a little.

Then, Touma's head turned just enough that Rainbow could see his grateful smile. _Thanks,_ it seemed to say, _for the boost._

Rainbow grit her teeth and flew even faster than before.

Well before they reached it, the pair had to squeeze their eyes shut from the painful light, so powerful that it felt like it was burning their skin. Deprived of visual sensation, Rainbow had to concentrate carefully just to ensure that they continued to fly upwards.

At some point, she realised that Touma was holding his right hand up above their heads.

Neither of them could see, but both of them felt the instant that contact was made with the obliteration spell. Touma was suddenly shoved back down by some incredible force, like he had just run into a steamroller going the other way. Rainbow, despite the pain, was holding tight to Touma, and good thing too – otherwise, she might have kept going right into the spell.

This close, they could hear a deep rumbling noise booming out from the spell above. It threatened to wash out their hearing the same way the light had their sight. But even over that deep, reverberating noise they could hear a sound like glass beginning to crack.

Like the sky itself had been broken in two, the obliteration spell shattered.

* * *

"Twilight?"

"Yes, Applejack?"

"Was that nun girl the one who did the crazy thing just now?"

"…yeah."

"…"

"…"

"So, ah… What kinda limits would there be on tha' magic o' hers?"

"…she doesn't have any."

"Magic?"

"Limits!"

* * *

"Warning."

The voice coming from Index's body was not that of a human. It did not – could not – contain petty emotions like worry or concern. Instead, it just seemed… tense.

"Reading from chapter three, verse three. Obliteration spell has been interrupted. Beginning new spell – "

Its words caught in Index's throat like a hand had clamped shut over her oesophagus. Jerking unnaturally, her head titled to the side, where it could see that Princess Celestia had fearlessly thrust her hand into one of the black cracks in space that surrounded Index.

"I think you have hidden behind these for long enough." The princess admonished.

Inside the fractures of darkness, _something_ gave a roar that could have been a cry of pain or of pleasure. The blackness permeating the air suddenly had bright, golden light sear out from the very cracks they leaked from. In a mind-bending twist of light, the space around Index returned to normal.

"Enemy strength much greater than initially estimated." The thing in Index's body said, noticeably quicker than before. "Commence emulation of the last of the twelve plagues of Egy–"

Seven wires wrapped around Index's arms and legs, pulling backwards tightly so that her arms and legs were pulled tight behind her.

"Whatever you are –" Kanzaki growled. "– let go of Index!"

A spell raced down the metal wires to press up against the Walking Church. The thing in Index's body tasted the magic and recognised it as an exorcism spell. The Saint thought her possessed.

"I'm gonna shock you senseless, whoever you are!"

"There will be no need for that, young lady."

"If any of you touch Index, I'll burn you to cinders."

Misaka, Celestia and Stiyl moved in around Index.

"Reading from chapter ten, verse twelve."

Kanzaki head Index's voice and jerked her wires back to stop her from speaking, but the magic circles in front of her eyes pulsed. From them came a man's voice, deep and powerful. Somehow it seemed to speak in every language at once.

"Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon!"

Instantaneously, everyone froze.

Esper, cabal-hunter, matriarch, Saint. Wispy smoke monster, Powered Suit, magician, even Pinkie Pie. It didn't matter.

All of them stopped moving with no regard for gravity or momentum, like flies caught in amber.

The only sign of life was the white-gold nun in the centre of it all. Even the cat on her head behaved as though he had paid a visit to the taxidermist.

Another one of the red pulses of magic tore off the metal wires that held her limbs. As soon as they weren't touching her, the wires froze in place as well.

Slowly, almost gently, the thing in Index's body floated away from the small group of people who had tried to capture it, passing between Misaka and Celestia before turning back to face the group. Swiftly and emotionlessly, it calculated the most efficient way to destroy them.

It ignored the way the body screamed in agony, the way its mana twisted in unnatural ways as it tried to perform outside the limits of humanity without any of the proper preparation. It had calculated that it had another 31 seconds before critical damage would be done to the body. Everything else could be regenerated.

Decision made, the two circles that followed Index's eyes moved in close, overlapping and merging into one. The new composite circle glowed brighter and brighter as Index continued to stare uncaring.

-Huff, puff-

Index froze, for a moment imitating the victims of her spell. The super-circle in front of her instantly snapped back into the two circles she had started with.

-Huff, puff-

Index's head turned.

There was a girl with rainbow-coloured hair. She had frozen in place like everyone else, although in her case 'in place' meant a metre off the ground, stuck in mid-air.

Jumping up to her was a girl with poofy pink hair. She was reaching around to grab the rainbow girl's arms, pulling them apart. Her eyes were closed, but her tongue was poking out at Index in a suspiciously well-aimed display of childish defiance.

Underneath the two of them was a boy with spiky black hair, huffing and puffing and _moving_. He was gingerly walking forwards, wincing every time he put weight on his right leg.

The inhumanity of the thing in Index's head was displayed clearly when it immediently began to act, not spending a single instant gawking. "Reading from chapter ten, verse fourteen. Subject displays immunity to miracle-class spell. Reverse-calculate source of immunity."

-Huff, puff-

"Failed. Subject is not using magic. Calculating most effective spell against the attacker – completed. Five seconds until the spell –"

Touma Kamijou pulled his right fist back, and punched Index straight in the face.

* * *

Time began to flow once more.

Four powerhouses started as their target suddenly wasn't were she was supposed to be. From behind them, a dark figure took her chance when she saw that _her_ targets were all distracted.

Focused on the space that Index had just left, none of them saw Nightmare Moon rise up from behind them.

Index had attracted all of the attention to herself with her overpowered spellcasting. Every fighter had immediently designated her the priority target and attacked her with all their power.

But even if she was the 'lesser' threat, it was never wise to turn your back to an enemy. Being less of an immedient problem did not make her harmless.

She would sweep across with her Nightmare Mist. By catching them off guard, she would almost certainly get the lightning girl and the fire boy. Her sister and the saint would probably survive, but the former would be holding back out of misplaced sentiment and the latter had not shown any ability to truly kill her. Both of them she could deal with in time.

She swiped her hand down to deal the final blow to this ridiculous fight.

As she did so, a pair of slender arms and a well-loved rope wrapped themselves around her arm and pulled back.

Nightmare Moon actually screamed in frustration. Behind her, Rainbow tightened her grip, and Applejack pulled harder on her rope.

The wisdom of not dismissing an opponent out of hand was one that Nightmare Moon herself had yet to grasp, it seemed.

Nightmare Moon turned to mist, which caused Applejack's rope to pass through her but not Rainbow's arms. Her mist-fingers twitched, but Pinkie Pie jumped up and pulled Rainbow away, causing the thrust of Nightmare Mist to miss.

Nightmare Moon made to fly away, but a purple forcefield appeared around her, trapping her like a bug under a cup. Now immobilised, Nightmare Moon solidified to find Fluttershy staring right into her eyes, the girl's own eyes filled with angry tears.

Nightmare Moon was trapped. The Nightmare Mist was on the other side of the shield. She immediently called it back to her side, but…

-Hiss-

No more Nightmare Mist.

"Are we done with the smoke things?"

Misaka Mikoto strode towards Nightmare Moon, her face as dark as the sky. "'Cause I happen to notice that you don't have a river handy this time. Go ahead, turn to mist. I haven't gotten a straight victory all night, and I'm feeling really left out." An arc of lightning jumped from her head to the ground.

With the threat of deadly microwaves hanging over her head, Nightmare Moon couldn't use her mist-form to escape. But that wasn't the end of her bad of tricks!

 _Tantabus…!_

Wait. That 'Index' child had destroyed it.

 _Shadowbolts…!_

No, she wouldn't be able to create more without her opponents noticing.

 _Nightmare Forces…!_

Yes! Only the nun had been outright immune to their curse! If they could handle those fools who thought they could hold her, then her capture would be meaningless!

"Nightmare Forces!" She cried, ignoring how her 'captors' tensed up. "Come to the aid of your queen!"

"At once!" They responded as a whole.

The Nightmare Forces surged up, looking to the world like one immense form…!

-Whoosh-

And then a golden dome of flames trapped the Forces underneath – a spell designed to keep them at bay was being used to keep them _in_. They were now trapped just like how she was trapped.

 _Oh, of course._

 _My sister_ is _here, isn't she?_

And that was that. She was out of tricks.

* * *

Kanzaki spotted Index shortly after that, lying on the ground with Touma standing over her. With the speed that Saints were famous for, she dashed to Index's side; sending Touma flying in the process. ("Argh!") She gave Index a shake – somehow, Index had been knocked unconscious, despite the protection of the Walking Church.

While Kanzaki fretted over Index (and scrupulously checked her for signs of possession), Stiyl moved closer to Nightmare Moon. He eyed the forcefield suspiciously, then started to place rune cards around it as a second line of defence.

His actions did not go unnoticed. "What are you doing?" Celestia asked, her voice carefully neutral.

"I'm a member of the Church of Necessary Evil, Necessarius." Stiyl said, not pausing in his work. "By right, I should be dealing with all of you, but I'll just take this one. Academy City can deal with the rest of you." He moved to place rune cards on the other side of Nightmare Moon, but found his path blocked by Celestia.

"If you think you can take my sister to rot in your Tower of London, Anglican," the princess said firmly "you are mistaken."

"That's cute." Stiyl put his cigarette back between his teeth. "You think she'll make it as far as the Tower."

Celestia's gaze grew cold – colder than Twilight had ever seen it. Colder than she ever wanted to see.

Before the confrontation could progress any further, however, there came the sound of a quiet giggle.

All present turned to face Nightmare Moon.

She was trapped inside a perfect cage. She could break it by turning into mist, but in that time Misaka would literally vaporise her. There would be no escape for her.

So why was she sitting there, a mad grin on her face?

"…is something funny?" Stiyl asked.

"Fools." Nightmare Moon said. "You're all _fools_. You think you've _won_."

Twilight felt like a weight had just appeared in her stomach.

"Luna." Celestia reached forward to touch Nightmare Moon. "Luna, please. Please, just stop."

Nightmare Moon bared her teeth at the outstretched hand, causing Celestia to hesitantly draw her hand back. "No, I will not stop. Not when I am so _close_."

She straightened her back. "Why don't you climb back into your seal, soft-hearted sister of mine, and wait for the end?"

Kanzaki extended her sword just slightly out of its scabbard, causing Nightmare Moon to grimace. "Enough."

"If you do not remove your curse on the sun within the next minute, I'll burn one of your fingers off." Stiyl threatened. "Each minute you delay, another finger. You better hurry, or I'll end up incinerating your entire body, one small piece at a time."

"Yeah, who exactly are you guys again?" Misaka interrupted, a ball of sparks appearing in one hand. "'Cause everything you just said sounds _really_ illegal."

Kanzaki's eyes focused on the #3. "You're in over your head, esper. Back off."

Misaka's right eye twitched. "'O-over my head'?" She bared her teeth, sparks starting to jump between her bangs. "Why don't you try me on for real?!"

"Uh, hey, princess?" Rainbow interrupted. "Can't you just put the sun back yourself?"

Celestia's eyes dropped to the ground, and Nightmare Moon let out another laugh. "Foolish girl. If she could force the day when I did not wish it, what would be the point of confronting me to begin with, all those years ago?"

She bared her fangs. "As long as I live, you will not see another day."

Stiyl's face hardened.

"But _why_?"

Everyone's head turned to face her, and Twilight realised that she'd spoken out loud.

"'Why?'" Nightmare Moon mocked her. "You opposed me from the start, and you do not even know why I do what I do?"

"I… I…" Twilight breathed in deeply, exhaling as much of her tension as she could. There was no turning back now. "Don't you know anything about the sun?" She demanded. "Do you want to be queen of a frozen wasteland?"

"Don' bother, sugarcube." Applejack spoke up. "Ah already tried tha'. She just said there's only one person she cares about."

 _What?_

 _But that didn't make sense! Nightmare Moon wanted to usurp her sister! I know that, because it was in…_

…

…come to think about it, Twilight had read about Nightmare Moon in _two different books_.

One had contained the legend of Nightmare Moon's defeat, and one had contained the legend of her return.

The second one had turned out to be true, so Twilight hadn't given any further thought to it. Obviously, the legends were true. End of story.

But why would _all_ of the legends be true?

Hadn't Twilight been discussing with Applejack, just before everything had gotten crazy, about how the story of Nightmare Moon's defeat should have been history, not legend?

What…

What if the legend of Nightmare Moon's defeat was just that: a legend? Myth, made up after the fact in an attempt to explain the events with only the knowledge of its aftermath?

If _that_ was the case, that changed everything. Fundamental assumptions about Nightmare Moon's motivations were invalidated. Twilight would no longer have cause to believe that Nightmare Moon was dooming the world out of jealousy for her sister.

And there was another thing, although no one had yet figured it out.

Nightmare Moon had been taken out of context. The world she had launched her crusade in ran under different assumptions and rules than this one. Given that, it would be more surprising if her motivations _hadn't_ changed.

In one context, the production of food and management of weather were both run with magic. The daytime was a luxury, not a necessity. That wasn't the case in this one. Here, solar energy was the root of all life on the planet.

When performed in this context, extinguishing the sun not the action of a ruler seizing power.

But Nightmare Moon had done so anyway.

So if becoming a ruler wasn't what Nightmare Moon wanted, what outcome _was_ she after?

 _What did Twilight know for sure?_


	9. Catch the rabbit

Once upon a time, in a land now lost to fables and legends, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all in their care. To do this, the eldest used her vast magical power to guide, empower, and protect their people during the day; while the younger did the same at night.

Thus, the two sisters were able to keep their charges safe and happy.

But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful.

The people relished and celebrated in the day her elder sister safeguarded, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night.

One fateful day, the younger sister laid a curse on the day, that it might never been seen again. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked creature of darkness: Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night.

Reluctantly, the elder sister did battle with the younger, at the end of which she emerged victorious. Unable to kill her own sister, she instead banished her permanently in the moon.

The elder sister took on responsibility for both day and night, and she has peacefully ruled ever since.

…that was the legend of the fall of Nightmare Moon.

That was the legend that Twilight had been relying on as the guide to Nightmare Moon's motivations.

But its description of events did not match up with what she had observed.

If she discarded it altogether, what was she left with?

* * *

"She's omnicidal, and has the ability to kick off Armageddon single-handed." Stiyl drew deeply on his cigarette. "And you think I should allow her to walk away from here?"

"I will accept responsibility for my sister." Celestia replied, no trace of hesitation in her voice.

"If I trusted you, that might actually mean something."

"I am Celestia, of King Arthur's Horse."

"Never heard of you."

Celestia seemed taken aback by this, but recovered quickly, ready to try another line of verbal attack. Unfortunately, Stiyl wasn't done.

"Even if you were a childhood love interest of mine, I still wouldn't let you walk away with the world-ending threat with 'don't worry, I'll handle it.' The world isn't a kind enough place that we can leave unexploded munitions to walk around freely." He met the princess's gaze with eyes of fire and steel. "The only safe way to disarm a something like that… is to destroy it."

The air felt hot and dry in Twilight's throat. The voices in the discussion had turned as cold as ice, but the atmosphere had changed just as much in the opposite direction.

"I will not let you harm my sister." Celestia said, slowly and powerfully.

"You don't get a say in the matter."

"You will have to go through me first."

"That's fine. I wouldn't be a member of Necessarius if I couldn't destroy a cabal or two."

Twilight found a kind of calm descending on her mind. It wasn't so much the result of effort and discipline, as much as she'd become so stressed and panicked that she'd warped back around to the other side.

There was a mystery before her, and if she didn't solve it _now_ , someone was going to die. Maybe a lot of someones.

 _Come on, Twilight, think!_

Had she encountered any hints tonight?

Her own voice echoed in her mind.

 _But if Princess Celestia was the one who defeated Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago… …then why is the story a_ legend?

If Celestia had never talked about what had happened that night… maybe it was because she didn't _want_ to talk about it. As in, she felt no pride at all for what happened, even though she had saved the world. Maybe… maybe she was even _ashamed_ about what had happened.

Nightmare Moon's voice.

 _But I already... didn't I?_

Someone had, however briefly, undone Eternal Night. That would be important, Twilight knew, but it didn't help her right now.

 _Why don't you climb back into your seal, soft-hearted sister of mine, and wait for the end?_

…the end? What end? Being sealed away wouldn't kill you, even after the passing of a thousand years. Nightmare Moon knew that better than anyone.

So what end did she mean?

Applejack's voice.

 _Don' bother, sugarcube. Ah already tried tha'. She just said there's only one person she cares about._

If Nightmare Moon only cared for herself, then why do anything that she had tonight? She must have a motive! If she only cared about herself…

…

Only herself?

Hadn't Nightmare Moon said something else that was weird tonight?

Why _would I_ care _about what_ she _thought of me?_

Why _would_ Nightmare Moon care what the princess thought of her? Both of them had attacked the other and sealed them away. But Nightmare Moon had become enraged when Twilight had told her her sister hated her. She clearly cared about her sister in _some_ fashion.

The legend stated that this entire feud was about Nightmare Moon being jealous of her older sister. Twilight now knew that that older sister was her mentor, Celestia.

So… Nightmare Moon had imprisoned the Princess in the same seal she had just escaped from, and then set in motion the end of the world? Why? Was it some form of torture for the Princess, to watch as the world died?

…

 _Wait._

 _No._

 _It couldn't be that._

 _But… it couldn't be anything else, either!_

Twilight wiped the back of her hand across her brow, then realised that not all of the sweat there was from stress. The cool air of the too-long night had been replaced with the suffocating heat of a furnace.

Twilight looked, and saw that the tarmac under the princess was starting to bubble and melt. The black-robed priest standing opposite her clutched a rune card in one hand, dozens of identical ones scattered across the road. Mana was flowing thick and fast inside both.

Twilight swallowed. "Nightmare Moon." She said, her voice full of the same warped calm that had settled on her mind. "Did you seal the princess in the moon because you wanted her out of the way… or because you wanted her to _live_?"

Unexpectedly, Celestia stiffened up like a board. One of Stiyl's eyebrows rose: he apparently found this line of enquiry interesting enough to hold off attacking for now.

"What nonsense are you spouting, girl –" Nightmare Moon started, but Twilight ploughed on.

"No sun means no sunlight. With no food and no warmth, everyone on Earth dies." With no wind or unfrozen water, even the energy of _Feng shui_ and Ley Lines might dry up; so the great magic fortresses would eventually fall as well.

"Celestia wouldn't have food or warmth anyway – just like you wouldn't have had food or warmth. But she would live. Inside the seal on the moon, she could ride out the end of the world in perfect health."

Twilight knew she had everyone's attention now. She could feel the stares on the back of her neck from Rarity and the others, and even Celestia, who was facing away from her, seemed to be listening intently.

"Nightmare Moon." Twilight finally spoke her suspicions out loud. "Did you set everything up so that _you and your sister would be alone in the whole world_?"

Twilight had believed that Nightmare Moon had hated her sister for stealing the people away from her.

But what if that was entirely backwards?

What if Nightmare Moon had hated _the people_ for stealing _her sister_ away from her?

…

…

"…do you remember those first days, sister?"

It took Twilight several seconds to recognise the voice as belonging to Nightmare Moon. It was quiet, and empty of the absolute confidence that had dominated it every time Twilight had heard it previously.

"Those days when people first looked up to us and called us 'princess'?" Nightmare Moon continued.

The aura of heat around Celestia drained away as the anger left her eyes. Stiyl, standing opposite her, narrowed his eyes but did not press the advantage.

"Yes." Celestia said, just as quietly as her sister had. "Yes, of course I do. We were so innocent back then. You used to think the world of me."

"It was a different world back then." Nightmare Moon's gaze lifted to the stars. "Harsher, in many ways. Our people had no choice but to rely on us to keep them safe."

"Much has changed back then." Celestia said, still facing away from Nightmare Moon.

"Yes." Nightmare Moon agreed. "Much has."

She sighed.

"I never really minded that they slept through my night."

Twilight's breath hitched in her throat. The legend _had_ been wrong…!

"I mean, why would I? I was the guardian of dreams. Awake or asleep, it didn't matter to me. What mattered is the one dream that I could never visit."

"Luna, I –"

"Because _she wouldn't let me_." Nightmare Moon continued, a hard note entering her voice. "Instead, the only times I saw her were in those brief moments of sundown and sunrise as we switched over."

The strength and determination that had been filling Celestia's frame slowly drained away, her shoulders gradually slumping.

"And even those precious times became less and less. They came to her, begging her to intervene in their problems, no matter how small, and she _wouldn't say no_. My sister let herself be used by the people as the go-to solution for everything, without giving a single thought as to how _I_ felt about it."

Celestia's appearance had not actually changed, but her towering height seemed to have somehow shrunk away until her imposing presence had receded altogether.

"Then, the solution was obvious to me."

One corner of Nightmare Moons mouth curled up, and her eyes regained that endless arrogance that had characterised them before her unexpected confession.

"I would just have to make them all _go away_."

"I've heard enough." Stiyl took a step forward, raising a hand. " _Ashes to ashes –_ "

" _NO!_ "

Stiyl scowled, looking over at Twilight. Both his hands and his eyes were smouldering.

"Don't you see?"

Twilight took a step towards Nightmare Moon. "There's one detail in her story that doesn't make any sense."

"You seem to have figured everything out." Stiyl mocked. "Why don't you just go ahead and tell us?"

There was no backing out now. "Nightmare Moon set up Eternal Night so that she could be alone with her sister forever."

"But why would she need to do that, when she had her subjects?"

The words came rushing out in one breath – not quite yelling, but definitely louder than normal. Twilight took a deep breath as she finished.

Whatever the sisters and the priest had been expecting, that hadn't been it. Stiyl looked exasperated, Nightmare Moon seemed to be honestly confused, and Celestia…

Even through the shame hanging on her like a cloak, Celestia managed to turn and give Twilight a small, proud smile.

"'When I had my subjects?'" Nightmare Moon echoed, puzzled.

"Yes." Twilight answered. "What made your sister so special that you couldn't stand to be around anyone else?"

"'What made' – _you stupid girl_."

Nightmare Moon lurched forward, slamming her hands into the forcefield keeping her contained. Twilight felt the magic in the area spike as all the magicians 'tensed up' – in particular, the amount of mana being refined by the girl who had arrived with the priest was _ridiculous_.

"What made my sister so special was that _she was my only friend in the whole world_." Nightmare Moon snarled.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she froze.

Twilight wondered if she'd ever admitted to herself that that was the reason.

"…we did everything together."

Nightmare Moon's shoulders shook.

"We lived together, played together. When _that wizard_ asked us to be rulers, we agreed together!"

She was screaming now. "But they took her away from me, and left me with no one! No one! And I couldn't get her back – she wouldn't let herself be taken back!"

"But – if there wasn't anyone else for her either, then maybe… maybe we could go back… back to the way things were."

 _I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends!_

She'd been told the answer right at the beginning.

Twilight's shoulders dropped, and she gave an exasperated smile.

"I can't ever replace your sister." She said. "But… if it will help you to stop feeling so alone…"

"Then I'll be your friend, Nightmare Moon."

Dead silence followed Twilight's words.

"What?" Nightmare Moon blinked. "No you won't."

"I will." Twilight insisted.

"I just tried to end the world. None but my sister could ever forgive that, and it will take time, even for her. You _can't_ want to be my friend."

"I do!" Pinkie bounced.

"Nobody _sane_ could." Nightmare Moon amended hastily. "We were fighting each other not ten minutes ago!"

"Ah, horse apples." Applejack spun her beloved hat on one finger. "What's ah little fightin' between friends?"

"'A little fighting' nothing, _I was trying to kill you_ –"

"I would be delighted to be your friend, dear." Rarity interrupted with a smile, relief spreading all throughout her body.

"You're lying." Nightmare Moon was starting to sound desperate.

Fluttershy looked up, and Twilight saw the tear stains on her face on her face. "What you did tonight was very mean, and it made me so scared…" Fluttershy wasn't whispering anymore. Instead, her voice was softened almost into inaudibility by the emotion known as sadness. For a moment, Twilight was scared that everything would be ruined here.

"B-but…"

Hope bloomed anew in Twilight's chest.

"If you don't want to do that anymore… then I would be delighted to be your friend…!" Fluttershy blushed, her hands fidgeting together.

"You… you all… really want to…?"

"Nah, not really." Rainbow said blandly.

Rarity slowly and daintily elbowed Rainbow in the ribs.

"Ow! Okay okay, fine. I'll be your friend, I guess. Jeez, Rarity. You know these ribs are broken, right?"

Fortunately, in her daze, Nightmare Moon didn't seem to have heard what Rainbow said. Her eyes were lost. Slowly, she turned back towards her sister.

"I'm not going to leave you alone, Luna. Never again." Celestia said, softly.

Nightmare Moon's edges grew fuzzy, like she wanted to turn to mist but couldn't quite commit to it. "C… C…"

Twilight thought for a second that she could see moisture gathering in Celestia's eyes. "Luna…" The princess swallowed, her breathing steady, but only just. "Please…"

Nightmare Moon tried to snarl, but the expression just came out pained instead. "Ce..."

There was one long, awful moment when nobody moved or made any kind of noise. Twilight's breathing felt heavy and strained. This was it. Everything that was going to be said had. There was nothing left but to see the results.

Nightmare Moon took a deep breath, like she was planning to scream or yell. But the moment she opened her mouth, she stopped.

Then, she was crying. "Ceeeellllllliiiiiieeeeeeee!"

The blurred lines around her body burst apart like the rubber of a water balloon. A thick layer of mist lifted off of her body.

And from inside that 'Nightmare Moon suit' emerged a different girl altogether.

Where Nightmare Moon was tall, this girl was almost normal height, only slightly taller than Twilight herself. Nightmare Moon's hair was black, this girl's hair was a very light blue. The armour that Nightmare Moon had been wearing all night had vanished, leaving only the dress; which seemed oversized on the smaller girl. She lacked Nightmare Moon's inhuman teeth, and overall seemed much younger, like she was more Twilight's age.

Twilight didn't even realise she'd dropped the forcefield in her surprise until the girl charged through where it should have been; Celestia waiting for her with open arms. The two embraced tightly, as though scared that if either of them let go then they would lose the other forever.

Twilight and the girls all felt like cheering as, after a thousand years of separation, two sisters were truly reunited.

Throughout the British/Japanese onlookers, however, there was a slightly different reaction.

…

 _Seriously?_

* * *

{Uuugghhh…}

Touma gave a pained moan as he pulled himself to his feet. Kanzaki's casual toss through the air had ended with his face slamming against a concrete surface – judging by the pain, and the wetness dripping down his face, he'd broken his nose.

He gingerly touched his nose. On second thought, the bone seemed to be intact. This was good news, as Touma was poor and the hospital bills he already had were bad enough. He pinched his nostrils shut and moved over to where everyone else was standing.

{Um…} With his unoccupied hand, Touma scratched his head. Everyone else was watching two girls hug. Touma didn't think he'd seen either girl before before. {Where'd the cute girls come from?} Actually, had he seen the elder in the melee just now?

{The demon queen turned out to be a little sister character in disguise.}

{Oh, thanks.}

…

Touma slowly turned to face the person who had just spoken.

Misaka stared back at him, arms folded.

Touma swallowed nervously, the hand holding his nose shut losing its grip to fall to his side.

Misaka eyes looked at the blood leaking out of his nose, over to the two hugging sisters, and back to Touma again.

Hi kids!

Do you know what an onomatopoeia is? It's a name for a sound that sounds like the sound it's naming! You know, like 'bang', or 'bark', or 'boom'!

But did you know that other languages have different names for the same sounds?

For example, in English the sound electricity makes is called 'zap'. In Japanese, that same sound is called 'biri'.

{W-wait, don't get the wrong idea, bug zapper! I mean, a nosebleed only means _that kind of thing_ in manga…!}

-biri biri biri biri biri biri-…

{My name is not BUG ZAPPER!}

{Aaaaaaahhhhhhh! Why does it always end like thiiiiiisssss!}

- _ **BOOM**_ -

* * *

Kanzaki stood up, apparently done checking Index's condition, and stood next to her partner.

{How is she?} Stiyl asked, not taking his eyes off the two sisters. His native tongue was English, but most of the people here didn't seem to speak Japanese; which was weird given where they were. Still, the little amount of privacy would be necessary if a fight still broke out.

{Physically, she's fine.} Kanzaki frowned. {Magically, I couldn't find anything. It's like something erased all magical traces in her body.}

{Some kind of trick to frustrate investigators, perhaps.}

{Maybe.} Kanzaki didn't sound so certain. {Nothing short of the legendary dragon of St. George should have been able to force its way through her Walking Church. Those kind of traces would be very difficult to remove.}

{Wasn't Index inside St. George's Holy Sanctuary when we got here?} Stiyl observed.

Kanzaki frowned. {She was.} Almost as shocking as that was the fact that the cabal leader had been able to neutralise the Sanctuary. That was a _very_ powerful spell. {We need to know exactly what happened here. Somehow, someone was able to access the library of prohibited books. That's far more of a threat than just blotting out the sun – though we can't let that go either.}

Stiyl drew deeply on his cigarette. {I'll take little miss ex-Nightmare.}

Kanzaki nodded. {I'll take the rest.}

Some people might think that casual statement to be the height of arrogance. Such people would be unaware of how ridiculously overpowered Saints were.

Kanzaki leaned over, one hand on her sword. In one moment, the fight would be mostly over.

…

Stiyl frowned. {What's wrong?}

Kanzaki turned back to face Stiyl, her face taut like she was fighting not to scream. {Index is gone.} She ground out.

With an alarmed -ack- noise, Stiyl swallowed his cigarette.

A couple of frantic coughs and one great heave, the soggy death-stick was ejected from Stiyl's throat and down onto the pavement. Ignoring the worried looks some of the Americans were sending their way, Stiyl whirled around to where Index should have been, lying on the street. Nobody was there.

Stiyl rounded back on his partner. {I thought she was unconscious!}

{So did I.} Kanzaki replied coolly.

Fighting back anger and panic, Stiyl concentrated on the Walking Church's mana signature, figuring that Kanzaki would be doing the same. They hadn't been able to find it earlier – Index must have used some kind of trick to hide herself from magical detection – but whatever she'd done must not have been working anymore. However…

{W-what? It feels like it's coming from ten different places at once?}

{It's all the leftover mana from the fighting just now. She's using it to distort her signal. Finding her now would be like following food colouring in a whirlpool.}

Stiyl made a choked noise that made Kanzaki think he was holding back a scream.

Kanzaki pointed down the street. {We have no choice. We have to follow each signal. …the witch will have to wait for now.}

Stiyl clicked his tongue, wishing he had the time to pull out a new cigarette.

All the magicians here needed to be interrogated. They were operating within Academy City, the core of the Science Side. He seriously doubted that they had authorisation from the Board of Directors to be here.

Not only that, but the two sisters seemed to be particularly troublesome. One had just caused a global disaster the likes of which hadn't been seen since Biblical times, while the other had not hesitated to oppose the might of Necessarius in order to keep her sister safe. Leaving them here would be the equivalent of leaving an armed nuclear bomb in the middle of the city.

Stiyl had only learned of their existence tonight, but what he had seen showed him that their level of power was far beyond that of a normal magician. He glanced sideways to his sword-wielding co-worker. To not feel threatened by the presence of a Saint was abnormal. He himself would dread having to fight such an individual. Yet this 'Nightmare Moon' had done so with ready abandon!

Most troubling of all, he had never heard of this cabal of theirs, Arthur's something-or-rather. The way they had been speaking implied that it had been operating for centuries _which was not possible._

But that wasn't his concern right now. Index was out in this city, alone. His worst fears of her being captured and her power misused seemed to have _already_ come true – she needed to be recovered, _now_. Something as mild as the extinction of the Sun would be the least of their worries if things went bad. Of course, even if that weren't the case Stiyl would always prioritise the protection of _that girl_ above all others.

There was just over a week until he would have to do _that_ to Index…

Swallowing his frustration, he charged down one of the possible trails, even as Kanzaki burred down another at superhuman speed.

 _I won't let anything happen to you, Index. I promised that I would do whatever it takes to keep you safe!_

* * *

"So…"

Twilight turned away from the dual spectacles of Touma and Misaka and Stiyl and Kanzaki, and looked back at the two newly reunited sisters.

Luna hesitated, but finished her sentence. "…what happens now?"

"Now?" Celestia said, gently stroking her sister's hair. "That's… complicated. First though, let's go home. We will need to decide what to do deal with the Nightmare Forces."

The Nightmare Forces that were still smoke had stopped struggling against their containment after having seen Nightmare Moon turn back into Luna. Now, they just floated in air, unsure of what to do next. The members who had had their corruption removed looked as though they felt the same way, completely stopping their attempts to remember how to get back on their feet.

"But more importantly," Celestia continued "our subjects will be anxious to see us."

"Your subjects." Luna corrected, staring at the ground with regret.

Celestia shook her head. "Our subjects." She repeated, and Luna's eyes rose to meet hers.

The younger sister's lip curled up, just a little.

Celestia looked over at Twilight, and swept her gaze over the other girls. She smiled, and the smile seemed to convey endless relief and gratitude that was simply too much to ever put into words.

"Come, girls." Celestia stood to her feet, still holding Luna tight to her chest. "Let's go home."

Celestia's hair suddenly flared out behind her, gusts of wind blowing out from her in waves.

Over the horizon, bright rays of sunshine began to shine once more, falling down _just right_ ; outlining Celestia and Luna in a blazing halo of light.

Luna snorted, and Celestia's smile gained a silly edge at her own dramatics. But the two sisters held each other tight, and started the walk back home.

Without a word, Twilight obediently strode after her mentor. Behind her, her friends followed, and the Nightmare Forces floated/crawled behind as well.

Twilight blinked, and replayed that thought in her head.

Friends.

She looked around at the girls – those mad, stupid, _wonderful_ girls who had accompanied her on this terrifying night, and found that she couldn't think of them any other way.

* * *

That left just one person standing alone in the street that was covered in rubble.

Can you remember who it is?

No?

That's strange, considering the hurricane that her little butterfly wings had kicked up.

{I… guess I'd better let Anti-Skill know how to wake their officers up, huh?}

Saten had been seriously off-balance since seeing cool, mature Misaka chasing after a fleeing high-schooler, hurling lightning bolts at him. (Seriously, what was up with that?) Now, however, the adrenaline was starting to leave her system, and the prospect of a long clean up was starting to loom overhead.

A short walk brought her back to where she'd dropped Uiharu's phone, (she winced, she'd cracked the screen) and she called up said friend.

{Saten! I was so – are you – never do that again!}

Saten smiled as her heard her excitable schoolmate trip over her words as she tried to berate her and fuss over her at the same time. {Hey, Uiharu?}

{Yes?}

{You've been in Judgement for years, right?}

{Well, more like _a_ year…}

Saten looked back at the street the torn up road and the piles of rubble where skyscrapers had been, Powered Suits scattered over the landscape like the abandoned toys of a giant. {Does adventure always leave this big of a mess?}

{Oh, goodness yes. Did I tell you about the time Russia tried to smuggle a nuke into Academy City and set it off?}

{ _What?_ }

{Well, we thought it was the Russians at the time, but it turned out that the people _actually_ behind it were –}

But Saten wasn't listening as Uiharu totally spoiled the plot of _Railgun SS2_. Instead, her gaze was focused on the pink-haired girl who had turned away from the group of departing Americans to run back to Saten.

The bouncy girl bounced up and down as she held out a thin slip of paper for Saten to take.

{Uh… is that for me?} Saten asked awkwardly.

{Fireplaces never volume the half-way doughnut!}

{I'll… take that as a yes.} Saten gingerly pulled the slip out of Pinkie's hands. For her part, Pinkie just grinned, and turned to run after the other girls.

Saten opened the folded piece of paper, staring at the writing inside.

{Uiharu?}

{Yes, Saten?}

{My English isn't so good… can you read this? Here, I'll send you a photo…}

{Let's see… I'll run this through OCR… then a translation tool...} The clickity-clack of keys on a keyboard could be heard over the phone line.

{It says…}

{Yes?}

{It's an invitation to a party. Um… I think she wants to thank us for helping out?}

Saten looked up from the invitation to look up at the sky. Her arms and legs had light scratches from her slides down a certain hole in the ground. Her uniform was dirty and creased from over 24 continuous hours of use. Her hair was messy, and her eyes were slightly unfocused from staying up all night.

And she couldn't be happier. {Yeah, a party sounds awesome!}

…

…

{…you do remember today is the last day of term, right?}

{Oh, right. School first, then party.}


	10. Onwards towards the next story

Of all of the buildings in Academy City, there was one that was easily the most mysterious. It had no openings or entrances – its walls could only be bypassed by a powerful teleporter, and the building was said to have counters to even that. Accordingly, this structure was known as the Windowless Building.

In this building was a softly lit room that contained all kinds of machinery, which was hooked up to a tube of liquid in the centre of the room. Floating upside-down in the tube was a 'person'.

Just by looking at them, one could not tell if they were a man or a woman. Nor if they were a sinner or a saint. For some reason, even such basic questions seemed to be impossible to definitively answer.

{Sol has resumed fusion activity. Solar radiation has returned to typical levels.} A robotic-sounding voice emerged from a screen that appeared to be suspended in the tube's fluid.

{Very well.} The 'person' in the tube responded to the disembodied voice. {It was a shame this event was over so quickly. I was hoping to pry some more information out, but this will suffice.}

The Windowless Building was a fortress capable of withstanding a direct nuclear strike. It had countermeasures against all known forms of attack, generated its own power, and produced its own oxygen. While inside the life-support machinery that formed the heart of the Windowless Building, it was entirely possible that a person could fail to notice that the sun had gone out.

{When a house catches fire, the mother's first thought is to her children. Similarly, one can deduce the greatest possessions of an organisation by what they rushed to when a crisis began.}

The 'person' in the Windowless Building hadn't bothered interfering in the situation that had occurred in Academy City. Instead, it was far more interesting to observe what everyone else was doing.

{I have prepared a report detailing the observed actions the opposing factions, Master Alester.} The screen changed to display scrolling paragraphs of text. {However, I can confirm that there were no areas of unexpectedly high activity.}

{Did they realise we were watching and command their subordinates be still? No matter. We shall simply look for areas of unexpectedly _low_ activity.}

Before one could deduce information, one had to collect data first. Any data could be turned into usable information, once enough of it had been collected.

Apparently satisfied with what the report said, the 'person' moved their eyes over, a new screen appearing where they looked. {And what of the intruders who kicked up such a fuss?}

{All unknown contacts have returned to point of origin, Master Aleister.}

{What has been the results of the surveillance attempts?}

{I humbly apologise, Master Aleister.} The screen changed view, now showing a camera feed of a park. The only notable oddity in view was the hole in the dirt big enough to swallow a park bench. {Just as before, the UNDER_LINE system begins to transmit garbage data at -4.087 metres, and ceases to transmit altogether at -5.866 metres. Other probes have been met with the same issue.}

{Hmm.} The person mused. A third screen appeared, displaying Saten Ruiko trying her best to brush herself down on her way to school. {And yet, we know that human beings can enter and return safely.}

The voice from the screen paused. {That is true. However, I cannot recommend sending a human to investigate such an anomaly. Their ability to retain and communicate detail is poor, and they cannot be remotely controlled if the need arises.}

{In which case, the solution is obvious.} A fourth screen appeared, showing a tank of a different design, though this one also had a person floating in it: a young girl with tea-coloured hair.

{We shall simply send a remote control human.}

* * *

Spike anxiously paced back and forth on the spot. When Celestia had suddenly flown off, he'd tried running after her, but the ancient alicorn could fly much faster than he could run. Some frantic questions to nearby ponies - "Sorry, but have you seen the princess fly by here?" - got him a little further, but he'd still lost the trail near the entrance to the Everfree Forest.

Spike had, up until this point, lived his entire life in Canterlot. But even there, the furtherest you could get from the wild and dangerous places of the world, he'd heard the stories of the Everfree. A strange and unnatural place, they said, where the weather ran on its own and animals took care of themselves.

Spike shuddered. In another world, that might have been normal, but in this world clouds did not move unless pushed, and animals required near-constant supervision. In this world, the Everfree was like a haunted house, where strange lights appeared in the night and inanimate objects levitated with no visible cause.

And that begged the question: what 'ghost' was responsible for the Everfree?

A twig snapped in the forest, and Spike's heart jumped up into his throat. _I-I'm a dragon_. He told himself, stuttering even in his head. _A big, scary dragon._

He repeated this mantra to himself as he hid behind a tree, shaking like a leaf.

More noises came from the Everfree, and Spike realised that whatever was making the sounds was moving toward him. He gulped.

"Who – who's there?" He called.

"Spike?"

Spike's heart leaped into his throat, and turned around so as to extend his neck out past the trunk of the tree. "…Twilight?!"

"Spike! What are you doing out here?!"

It _was_ Twilight. She was alright! And – and Princess Celestia was here too! And those five mares they'd met earlier that day (or was that yesterday, now?). And -

"Look out, Twilight!" Spike jumped out from behind the tree, one claw pointing shakily at something behind Twilight. "M-monsters!"

Twilight's face grew confused, and she looked behind herself. What she saw didn't seem to surprise her, though, and she turned back to Spike. "Oh, them. Don't worry about them, Spike. They're just the Nightmare Forces."

Spike didn't have a clue as to how that was supposed to make him stop worrying. There were monsters there! Actual monsters! Actual monsters named after the Mare in the Moon herself!

But… Twilight didn't seem to be worrying. And Twilight worried about everything, so if she wasn't worrying then there couldn't have been anything to worry about.

(The thought did occur to him that Twilight might be under an evil mind control spell, but Celestia was also there. Somehow, Spike just couldn't imagine the princess under somepony else's control; even _if_ that pony was Nightmare Moon.)

The familiar sight of the mare he'd known all his life helped ease the tight ball that had formed around his heart. (It helped that looking at her meant not looking at the Nightmare Forces). But at the same time, it also reminded him of what he'd been feeling ever since he'd woken up. Spike looked Twilight in the eye, swallowed, and asked his question. "Where were you, Twilight? We went to sleep, and then..."

He sniffed. "And then I woke up, and you weren't there, and ponies were saying they'd seen Nightmare Moon, and she was chasing after you, and nopony had seen you after that…"

His vision went blurry, which was probably due to the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. "And I didn't know where you were, and… and…"

Twilight cringed, guilt etching itself into her face. "Oh, Spike, I am so sorry. I just… I had to go and… and I didn't think about how this would affect you. I'm sorry." She repeated, stepping forward and wrapping her forehooves around him in a tight hug.

"I'm not crying." Spike lied, his voice muffled due to his mouth being pressed into Twilight's soft fur.

He heard the sounds of the other ponies moving around, but none of them said anything, for which he was grateful. This was embarrassing enough as it was.

"This must have been really scary." Twilight said. "With Nightmare Moon, and the sun not rising on time, and how it disappeared again even after it _did_ rise…"

…

" _Huh?_ "

Spike pulled his head out of the hug, blinking through his tears to stare up at Twilight, utterly confused. "What are you talking about, Twilight?"

Twilight blinked. "Well, Nightmare Moon broke out of her seal, just like the prophecy said…"

"Right…" Spike followed.

"And, well, she banished the princess to the moon, so the sun didn't rise…"

"Yeah…" This was all matching what he knew.

"And then somepony put the sun back…"

"That was me." Princess Celestia gently interjected.

"Really?" Asked a blue pony that Spike literally just noticed, despite the fact that she was clinging tightly to the much larger princess. "I suppose I shouldn't really be surprised…"

"And then Nightmare Moon took the sun away again, but we put it back again." Twilight finished.

"Yeah, that bit." The fear and stress of his worry for Twilight wasn't exactly _gone_ , but a different kind of worry was replacing it. "That's the part that doesn't make sense."

Twilight's eyes became uncertain. "What doesn't make sense?"

"Well," Spike said "the sun only went away once."

There was a moment of silence in the clearing, before everypony burst out in the same confused shout.

" _ **What**_?!"

* * *

In a certain world, the art of magic was dominated by Christianity.

Thus, it was very difficult to argue that the greatest magical fortress in the world could be anything but St. Peter's Basilica, standing proud in Vatican City.

And if you accepted that as fact, then it became quite obvious who the most powerful man in the magical world ought to be.

Standing inside that great church, an elderly man wearing the cloth of the priesthood spoke. Even alone and unattended, he gave off a great authoritative aura that made one indistinctly defer to him.

[Truly, God has shown us His power and mercy this day.]

The elderly man walked though the halls of the ancient church. His measured footsteps quickly brought him before a massive, wrought iron door. Though the door was already enough to deter any creature of this Earth, the elderly man knew that the room that door led too had been enchanted to the point were even the Seven Trumpets of Revelation could not breach its protections.

Though the door stood many times higher than the elderly man, it opened easily at his touch. Fearlessly, he entered the most sacred place of one of the most sacred churches in the entire world. Inside, a group of four people stood. They all seemed to have been awaiting the elderly man.

[The sun, which our Holy Father created on the fourth day, was stolen from His most sacred creation. But with the grace of God, it was restored to us.]

The four figures, while looking at the elderly man, did so with only the slightest of interest. The elderly man gave off the aura of someone who should be given the highest respect, but these four seemed to barely pay any attention to him at all.

[Still, the light that He created on the first day was also stolen. Even though it too was restored, the time it was gone should have frozen this fragile Earth over like an ice cube.]

The elderly man looked up at one of the four figures.

[Truly, God has blessed us mightily with your presence… Fiamma of the Right.]

[Hmph.]

The focus of the elderly man's attention led out that derisive noise.

[Keeping the Earth warm required hardly any effort at all. You can barely even call it an action of mine. I hold the holy power to save the world and hold an affiliation with the fiery archangel Michael. For my glorious self, nothing could be easier.]

The elderly man faltered a little. The tone of Fiamma's voice was a far cry from the ideals the elderly man preached about. To hear such a tone from the leader of his advisers was deeply disconcerting.

[Now, where do you get off talking like that, _Bishop of Rome_?] Fiamma said unexpectedly.

The elderly man blinked slowly, his grey eyebrows drawing together. [I'm sorry?]

[You're talking like everything's done and dusted.] The only girl in the room, Vento of the Front, spoke. [How can it be, when the blasphemers who dared interfere with our Lord's holy creation still roam free?]

[I… vengeance is the Lord's, and the Lord's alone.] The elderly man's confused tone turned suddenly to confidence.

[And as those who sit at the Right Seat of God, do we not share this right, no, this _responsibility_ to punish the sinners who think themselves above the Lord Almighty?]

The dominating aura of authority that the elderly man carried had disappeared. It had been swallowed up by the egos of the four who stood around the supposed head of the Catholic Church.

[…what do you plan to do?] The elderly man asked.

[We plan to root out sin and evil.] Fiamma of the Right responded. [Do you have a problem with that, Pope elected by the people?]

* * *

Deep in the woods, there was a castle.

It had originally been built to take advantage of the solitude and quiet that the forest afforded. However, when the two residents of the castle had been reduced to one, that remaining pony had found that solitude that had formerly been such a comfort to now be unbearable. She had left that castle behind, not even stopping to collect her possessions.

In the ravine beneath that same castle, there was a cave. And in that cave, there was a tree.

Not a tree of wood. A tree of crystal, and magic.

The tree had been waiting as patiently as a tree could. Of the three that were destined to connect with it, it had already met two. One had become… distant… but the bond with the other was still strong.

(The tree did not understand why two of its chosen had come to blows. It was, after all, a tree.)

However, something had gone wrong. This was the day that the third of its chosen was to begin her journey.

Instead, the distant one had moved somewhere the tree _could not_ _feel her_.

The tree did not understand how this could be. It did not understand why, or what, or where. It barely knew who and when.

The third of the chosen did not bond with the tree that day.

Indeed, even the last remaining link the tree had was broken.

And with that, the tree was left with nothing. Its fruit were still missing. Those bonds had been its last link to the world outside.

The soft glow of the tree faded until, even in the dark cave, it could barely be seen at all.

* * *

One of the tips of Touma Kamijou's hair was smoking as he walked down the street.

{Seriously, what did I ever do to that girl? With that weird fixation on being the strongest, you think she'd go bother the #1 and #2 instead of me…}

In the time that the sun had been missing from the sky, school had technically started. Touma didn't know how that was going, with all the confusion that must have been going around. However, on the off chance that they were counting school as having started at the normal time, he had grabbed his school supplies and started on his way to school. If he hurried, there was a chance he might _not_ be held back for remedial classes.

(Unfortunately, Touma had already racked up four months worth of missed classes, so that was a total pipe dream.)

However, there was something very important that he needed to do first. He'd managed to lose Misaka in the back streets, so he was all by himself as he walked back to the rubble-filled street that he'd left just a moment ago.

Hands in his pockets, Touma stopped abruptly in the middle of the street.

{It's okay now. You can come out; everyone else is gone.}

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, two of the larger pieces of rubble shifted slightly as Index crawled out from between them.

{How did you know I was here?} She asked. A kitten stuck its head out from under her hood and meowed.

It was the old shell-game trick. Which of the paths of mana leading away from the street was real? None of them. Index had never left.

Touma scratched his nose. {You were pretty good at making sure no one was looking, but you had to move at some point. Admittedly, I almost missed you, given how Bug Zapper was going biri-biri all over the place…}

Index's gaze dropped to her feet. {I see.} She sounded very tired, like she had just run a marathon only to find out that she had another three left to go. She sat down on one of the pieces of rubble and grasped her hands together.

{Are you okay?} Touma asked. {You were going all 'monster of the week' on us for a while there.}

The kitten meowed again. Index carefully picked it off her head and held it in her arms, slowly stroking it. {Was I? I'm sorry. I don't like it when I _talk in my sleep_ like that, but I don't really have any choice.} She sighed, long and deep.

… _she really mustn't know what had happened, if she thinks that she was just 'talking in her sleep'…_

Touma knew someone was going to have to tell her what exactly had transpired in this street, but right now he didn't feel like explaining that the bruise just starting to form on her face was his fault.

He frowned. But if she hadn't know about that, then… {What's wrong?}

Index sighed again. {Did you hear what those two magicians said? …no, I suppose you wouldn't have, over the lightning.}

{What who said?}

{The boy in the black priest's clothes and the girl with the lopsided jeans.}

{You call that two meter tall freak a _boy_?}

{When he was threatening that woman – the one with the Skinfaxi spell – he said he was a member of Necessarius.}

Touma didn't recognise either of those names, but given how Index's eyes darkened, he gathered that this was a big deal.

{That's _my_ church.} Index looked up at Touma. {That's the church I was counting on to protect me from them.}

{He could have been lying.} Touma offered, not really knowing enough about the situation to offer anything less vague.

Index shook her head. {No. It explains too much – why Necessarius has never tried to recover me, their most valuable asset.} Her gazed dropped down to her hands. {They _have_ been. But if they wanted me to come willingly, they would have just introduced themselves. The fact that they just chased me everywhere means that I wouldn't agree to whatever they have planned for me.}

{I don't really get this thing about churches and magicians (are you using code-words for something else?) but I'm guessing it's not the sort of thing you could just go to Anti-Skill for, huh.}

Index shook her head again, more firmly this time. {If that's a Science Side organisation, then that would definitely violate the treaty between Science and Magic. It would mean war.}

War.

That was a pretty heavy word to just randomly drop on a high-school student.

Ordinarily, Touma might have dismissed it as ridiculous, but that battle just now… just in that fight, Touma was sure that Academy City had come close to destruction.

Touma didn't believe in magic, but he could easily believe that someone would go to war over whatever that power was.

{So, you've got nowhere to go, huh?}

{Yeah.} Index said, her voice soft and tired.

Touma sighed. He was going to hate himself for doing this. {Well, I have to get to school.}

{Right.} Index nodded, disappointed but unsurprised. Nobody wanted the problems of somebody else.

Allowing herself one final sigh, she started planning her next move. First, she would need to think of some other way to mask her Walking Church's mana signature –

The jingle of keys being dropped into her lap broke her out of her thoughts.

{My address is on the keyring.} Touma said, walking away. {It's in an all-boys dorm, so don't let anybody see you. And don't eat all my food while I'm gone!}

{I – what – wait!} The words spilled out of her mouth in a rush, but Touma was already gone.

Stunned, the nun with a kitten on her head sat there in the morning light, the keys tightly held in her small hands.

* * *

The city of Canterlot could been seen for miles and miles away, built as it was, high up on the mountainside. A gleaming bastion of civilisation, home to both the unicorn and alicorn royal families. It was said that if one stood at the foot of the mountain, directly under the city, you could feel a subtle pressure on your withers – the weight, they said, of the sheer _power_ of the city above leaking down.

In that grand city, there were many ancient secrets.

There was the Crystal Caverns, which had simply appeared one day without explanation.

There was the Royal Vaults, said to contain all the evil artefacts that Princess Celestia had sealed away over the years.

There was the city library, where books on terrible and forbidden magic hid themselves on the shelves, just waiting for the right hooves to find them.

But the most dangerous of the city's secrets arguably wasn't a secret at all. It was displayed quite proudly in the Canterlot Gardens, where tour guides would point it out to newcomers to the city.

It was a statue. A statue of an ugly, mismatched creature. It had a goat's horn, and a deer's antler. It had a snake tongue and a goat beard. It had one limb each from a lion, an eagle, a lizard, a goat and a dragon. It had wings from both a bat and a pegasus.

It was a statue of a 'draconequus' - a mismatched creature that represented chaos and disharmony.

None of that was a secret. What was a secret was that the statue not originally made of stone.

And, at exactly the same time a certain crystal tree dimmed in brightness, cracks began to appear in the stone surface of Discord's prison.

* * *

It was true that two problems had been solved slightly faster than normal by the joining of the two worlds.

However, one only had to think a little to realise all the problems that this sequence of events would cause, let alone the solutions that were not put into motion.

On one end, a park in a city of science…

On the other, a forest in a land of magic…

This was only the first of the stories about that trouble-making hole.

The next story has already begun.

The tale of Context_SHIFT was over.

Now begins the story of MIRROR_NOISE.


	11. Bonus: Spellbook

"Hello everypony!" Princess Celestia beamed from behind her lectern. "Welcome to Spellbook, the segment where we'll go over some of the spells that you might be unfamiliar with, or those people might be confused about!"

"Wait, that's what we're doing?" Index blinked from behind her own lectern. "If that's the case, shouldn't I be doing this with Twilight?"

"I believe the rational is that we're magical experts with the same colour scheme." Celestia explained patiently.

Index looked down her her habit (white with gold trim), then over at Celestia's fur (white with gold jewellery). "Oh. Right."

Celestia looked down at the checklist in front of her. "Well, first on our list is the 'spear of mortal pain'."

"'The spear of mortal pain'." Index recited from memory. "Better known by its untranslated name, 'Gáe Bulg'. The signature weapon of the Celtic hero-deity Cúchulainn. Much like the spear of the Norse god Odin, Gungnir, Gáe Bulg is a spear that is expected to kill any opponent once thrown; though the legend only says that the spear will fill the target's body with barbs. An opponent unaffected by gross physical harm – such as Nightmare Moon – would probably be fine even after being struck with it."

Talking about her special subject seemed to inject life into game-show-contestant Index, who straightened up. She turned to face her partner. "Speaking of which, could you explain how she got up next to us to throw Touma at me? I didn't sense any magic at all!"

"That's because it wasn't magic." Celestia answered. "Or at least, not _new_ magic. Luna's trick was to hide herself inside her Nightmare Mist, and then simply walk over to you. By gradually fading the mist in, and by keeping the points of light inside it stationary, she could create a visual illusion that nothing was moving. It's a very effective trick for moving around magic-sensitive opponents unnoticed."

"I see, I see." Index nodded. "So what's next?"

"Next is… oh my. Somepony summoned _χάος_ last night?"

"What?!" Index yelped. " _χάος_ is the Greek titan that represents primordial void. Who on earth was summoning him?! Even minuscule amounts of his power can erase anything from mortal existence!"

"I don't know – it happened before I arrived. Oh dear, I hope nopony was hurt…"

"Could it have been that darkness-obsessed sister of yours?"

"No, Luna doesn't know how to cast _that_ _kind_ of spells. Even at her most violent, she's never needed more than her Nightmare Mist, her minions, and the ability to twist dreams into nightmares."

"Nightmares, huh?" Index tilted her head. "That sounds really easy to counter – just invoke the protection of Asibikaashi."

"Hm? Oh yes, the spider woman." Celestia said, with a far-away look in her eyes that made Index wonder if Celestia was remembering a personal encounter. "She spins a magical web that catches all bad dreams and causes them to evaporate in the morning sun. However, her people grew so numerous that she couldn't possibly spin webs for them all, so she taught them how to spin the webs themselves." Celestia's eyes refocused, and she showed a mischievous smile. "You can find cheap knock-offs of these magical webs sold in Buffalo souvenir shops as 'Dreamcatchers'."

Index leaned over and picked up the checklist Celestia had been reading off. "Next, they want us to talk about… 'Sodom and Gomorrah'?! What?!" Index clenched her hands, crumpling the paper between then. "That's a miracle-class spell designed to obliterate cities to the point where historians cannot be sure that the cities ever existed at all, turning all witnesses into pillars of salt! Even a full Gregorian Choir doesn't generate anywhere near enough power for that! What went on _while I was sleeping_ to cause THAT spell to come up?!"

Celestia, who _had_ been present for the casting of that spell, debated for a moment on enlightening Index as to who had tried to obliterate Academy City. She hesitated for slightly too long, however, and Index continued talking.

"The Joshua 10:12 spell?! That's another miracle-class spell! Those spells emulate an action taken by the Lord Almighty, they're not supposed to be castable by anyone who isn't omnipotent!" Index flung the checklist off to one side, and leaned out over her podium. "The spell literally holds the rest of the universe still so that the caster can finish off their opponent! Once cast, its a spell of guaranteed victory!"

Index's breathing was heavy as she finished yelling, and her eyes were wide.

Celestia stared at her partner, worry clear on her muzzle. A moment passed in complete silence.

Then Celestia smiled. "Well, there's no point worrying about it now, is there?"

"…eh?"

"Well, what I mean is, however it happened, we won. Luna came back to us, and you escaped your pursuers. Given that, does it really matter who cast what spells?"

Index eyed the ancient alicorn for a moment. "…were _you_ the one who cast those spells?"

"Oh goodness no." Celestia shuddered. "I've _seen_ what happens to ponies who mess around with time magic."

Index looked like she was about to question her further, but Celestia used her telekinesis to retrieve the checklist telekinetically, and quickly look down the list. "Only one item left, Index. 'Who or what is Skinfaxi'?"

Index continued to eye Celestia with suspicion, but explained anyway. "Skinfaxi is the horse of Norse mythology who pulls the day across the sky and lights up the sky and earth with his mane. His brother, Hrímfaxi, pulls the night."

"Oh." Celestia smiled. "I wondered why he sounded familiar."

"Now then." The princess leaned towards the audience. "Any questions?"

"Yeah." Said Misaka, sitting in the front row. "Why are we talking about magic like it's a real thing?"

"And what the heck are these things?" Rainbow Dash said from the next seat over, pointing a hoof each at Index and Misaka.

"See you next time, everypony!"

"No, wait! Don't end the –"


End file.
